Luke chapter 11 - Our Father, Thy will be done

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Luke recites this most famous of prayers.

LUKE 11:2   And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

:3   Give us day by day our daily bread.

:4   And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Luke presents Christ as a Man.

Luke stops here just before the end of the Lord's prayer because this first portion applies to us humans. We want God in Heaven to make sure that what happens on earth lines up with His Heavenly plan. (Not with our personal selfish desires). God must provide food and forgive us (and in return, we will hopefully forgive others) and God must please take us away from temptation (whereby we admit that we are very weak and fall easily into temptation). So this amazing prayer stresses our complete dependence upon God.

Luke deals with human issues. The last part of the prayer, that Luke leaves out, applies only to God as He has the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. (God's plan is for eternity, not for the short term benefits that we usually pray for).

Luke writes about the Man-part of Jesus and how we humans can interact with Him.

How do we humans make our prayers effective?

Jesus said that we must be desperate when we approach God for something.

LUKE 11:9   And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

:10   For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

:13   If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

God answers prayer in a good way. That means if He does not answer what we asked for, we were asking for the wrong thing which would have done us harm in some way.

We must have complete confidence in His decision on how He answers our prayer.

Luke now deals with the huge human problem whereby we allow wrong spirits to possess us.

Jesus chose a person who was dumb and could not speak.

Jesus cast out the demon from the dumb person and as soon as the person could speak, the people then accused Jesus of being Beelzebub, the prince of devils.

LUKE 11:14   And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.

:17   But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.

:18   If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub.

If Satan casts out his own demons, then is his kingdom divided against itself and will not stand.

Jesus said that He is stronger than Satan and thus He has power over Satan.

Thus Jesus cannot be the Devil or Beelzebub because He is much more powerful than the Devil.

On the wrong side, demons obey the Devil. Thus to be on the right side, we humans must be subject to and obey Jesus.

If we are not with Him as He fulfills God's will, then our efforts will be of no use, even though we mean well,  as our efforts will just scatter what God is trying to gather.

If a demon is cast out of a person then that person must serve God diligently. If that person allows the demon back in again, then that demon returns with seven other demons.

Why seven?

LUKE 11:24   When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

When a person comes to the truth in the last church age that there is an end-time prophet who is to restore us back to the Scriptural teachings of the New Testament church, then the denominational spirit leaves him as denominational beliefs cannot stay with Scripture.

For example, you cannot find a Scripture that says that the wise men went into a stable. (It was a house).  There is also no Scripture that says they bowed down to a baby. (He was a young child). The Bible never told us to remember His birth. The 25th of December is an unscriptural date. Christmas is not a word found in the Bible. A Christmas tree has nothing to do with the stable that He was born in. (The word "Santa", if you move the "n" to the end, spells out "Satan".) So if a person wants to be Scriptural, they cannot feel comfortable with the denominational devotion to the Christmas season.

LUKE 11:25    And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.

The person, who forsakes denominational man-made traditions, and becomes a Bible believer, is justified and sanctified and learns how to understand and prove the Godhead, water baptism, church ages, original sin etc. by using the Bible verses only.

Then, sadly and inconsistently,  Scripture is forsaken under the influence of domineering but nice and plausible pastors. The person starts to learn "all" about what the seven thunders uttered as well as the "new name" of Jesus. They also learn that Jesus came (or appeared) as a huge cloud in 1963 above the desert in Flagstaff, America. This cloud which was 42 kilometers up in the air is taken to be the mighty Angel of Revelation Chapter 10 that came down to stand on land and sea. William Branham was supposed to be under the Cloud when it was photographed, even although the hunting season was not yet open, and as such he was not even there on that day.

His followers scrambled up his quotes, forsook Scripture, and indulged in these speculations and mental gymnastics. They also get very cross if you disagree and present Bible verses that contradict their beliefs. But William Branham himself also made many quotes that contradict these ideas.

By the time a person can believe all these interpretations, which cannot be proven by linking Scripture to Scripture, they are actually worse off than what they were in the denominations. William Branham insisted that his ministry was to restore us back to the New Testament church, and all these ideas never appeared in the early church. Nor was any New Testament church dominated by a pastor, however competent, charismatic, and charming he (or she) may be.

LUKE 11:26   Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

There is a chance that a denominational Christian could learn the truth from the teachings of William Branham. But, after coming out of a denomination and learning certain truths from the Bible, a person today tends to get fooled or intimidated into believing that a cleverly spliced-together selection of quotes is the truth. Thus they forsake the Bible for the second time, when they should know better, and follow quotes as proof that "they are in the Message". (Whatever that means). After accepting that fatal mistake into their spiritual mind-set, they have little chance of finding the Bible truth yet again for our day.

So how did "Message believers" break up into such a variety of conflicting beliefs?

Because there are cunning evil spirits of deception from all the seven church ages that have been unleashed in our last age.

Seven spirits indicate a deceiving spirit from seven different church ages.

If you come out of a denomination to be restored back to the New Testament church, then do not allow the denominational spirit to re-enter you. Denominations do not prove their doctrines by linking Bible verses together in such a way that there are no contradictions.

Pastor-dominated churches and doctrines built on modern-day quotes and interpretation of quotes were never part of the New Testament church.

If you cannot prove your beliefs just from the Bible, then you follow a man-made system that opens the door to the spirits of the error of all seven church ages. These combined spirits are far more crafty and slippery than what you and I can control. Only Jesus, the Word, can keep them out of our lives.

The "Message" groups, like the denominations, no longer follow just Scripture. But the "Message" groups are without excuse. They were originally taught to believe like the early church, which was strictly Scriptural.

Then, worse still, to remain part of the cozy consensus of a "Message" church, individuals will strongly oppose anyone who shows them how to be Scriptural.

By opposing the truth from the Bible you effectively separate yourself from God.

The history of communism revealed that the further the communists got away from the teachings of Lenin, the more they idolized and glorified Lenin.

The same can be said of the "Message" churches. The further they have got away from William Branham's attempts to restore us back to the New Testament, the more they glorify William Branham and elevate his quotes as equal or superior to Scripture.

Luke now states the family we are born into gives us no advantage.

LUKE 11:27   And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

A woman said that Mary must be blessed to have such a Son. This implies that the immediate family of Jesus (or a prophet) has a big advantage.

LUKE 11:28   But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

Jesus said, "No, not at all. There is no spiritual advantage due to birth".

The truly blessed are those who hear the Bible verses and stay with them.

Those who live a Scriptural life, and only preach from Scripture, and who never contradict Scripture are the ones who are truly blessed.

Jesus said that His resurrection from the dead is the only sign that will be given to the evil world.

This is the most spectacular event that ever occurred. Death is our final enemy. No religious leader had ever beaten death by getting back out of the grave. This event would be unique.

No other religion can compete with this event. If sinners can ignore the resurrection and not be impressed by it, then no other sign will have a lasting effect on them.

LUKE 11:31   The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

The queen of Sheba probably had to cross the Sahara desert in her desperation to hear God's wisdom that He had given to Solomon. She certainly tried hard to find the truth.

So how much harder should we try to find the truth of God's Word? Sitting comfortably and being entertained in a church where no-one is allowed to disagree is not the difficult and dangerous path to find the truth that Jesus said would exist.

LUKE 11:32   The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

Nineveh is the Hebrew spelling and Nineve is the Greek spelling.

Nineveh was one of the evilest cities of all time. Yet those people repented.

They worshiped the fish-god Dagon. A whale swallowed Jonah for three days, then vomited him up onto the seashore. The pagans were impressed. Jonah had been swallowed up and assumed dead for three days. In awe, the pagans watched their fish god, seen for the first and last time ever, swim up to the seashore and puke. They overlooked the messy vomit and rejoiced that here came a prophet straight from the mouth of their fish god. This was like a resurrection back to life. The pagans had never seen anything like this before. Nor would they see it again. So they listened to him. News of this miracle spread inland to Nineveh so they also listened and repented. This "resurrected" prophet led the greatest revival of the Old Testament where 120 000 vicious pagans repented.

If that was their respectful response to a man who had just been swallowed for three days and three nights, then Jesus expects unbelievers to be even more impressed by His ability to rise from a grave, where He had died on Thursday and resurrected on Sunday. He also had to spend three nights in the tomb. This was the first and last time ever that a human being had accomplished this.

We need no other sign than this.

If He raised Himself from the dead then He will have no real problem in raising us from the dead.

If we do not believe after His literal resurrection, we are worse than the people of Nineveh who believed after Jonah performed a "shadow" of the resurrection.

Jesus launched an angry condemnation of the religious leaders.

Luke makes a sad point. The religious leaders are nice men. Friendly, helpful, and persuasive. But each leader gets his church to believe his version. Now there are 30 000 different denominational versions. So religious leaders are nice guys, but they are no big help if you are looking for truth.

LUKE 11:37   And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.

:38   And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.

Church leaders are well dressed, drive nice cars, and live in fancy houses. They ooze charm and friendliness. Their outward show is brilliant.

But if you examine the denominational doctrines and traditions that they teach, they are not proven from Scripture. Thus Jesus condemns them.
LUKE 11:39   And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.

Jesus then said that religious leaders like the Pharisees put up an outward religious show with beat music and fluent preaching to impress, but inwardly they were greedy and bad. They do not reflect the beliefs of the early church. They would lose their position in the church if they did. Have you ever bitten into a lovely apple and found to your horror that the inside was rotten?

This is what Jesus says about religious leaders.

LUKE 11:42   But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

The leaders pay attention to little technical details of tithing but have no love for Scripture or for proving their beliefs from the Scripture. The people love Christmas, so the preachers defend this unscriptural date and the Christmas tree to maintain their popularity. They do not dare mention that the wise men who brought three presents to Jesus never went into the stable. They went into a house two years later. But the people love the presents, so the denominational preachers remain popular by putting the wise men into the stable. Truth is not the issue. Keeping people happy is.

But the Bible is the judge of truth.  Not the emotions and greed of the people who want presents.

LUKE 11:43   Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.

Religious leaders love the important seats in front of the church where they will be noticed and elevated in the minds of the people. Pastors love being recognized in public, and are the only preachers who have to be greeted by their title. You cannot just say "Ray", you have to say "Pastor Ray".

Jesus was not impressed.

LUKE 11:44    Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

Jesus said the religious leaders were dead men walking. They were hidden graves. They were taking their followers to their deaths. If you do not stick strictly to the Bible, as the early church did, then you are heading for the great tribulation even if you are saved. Accepting Jesus as Saviour saves you from hell. Serving God in Spirit and in truth is needed to save us from the Tribulation.
JOHN 4:24    God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

When God has revealed the truth of His Word, men have no excuse to be ignorant. Unless we love our church traditions and man-made doctrines more than we love the Bible.

They made fancy tombs for their prophets, but they were the ones who had killed the prophets.

The religious leaders did not want to lose their power, influence, and access to the money.

They also did not want the truth.
LUKE 11:54    Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.

The religious leaders wanted Jesus, the Word, dead.

The religious leaders were not in tune with the Word of God.

In some ways, the church leaders are like the hijack pilots who piloted the people to their deaths in the Twin Towers of 911.  The people sat quietly in their seats and trusted their pilots to land them safely. Then they suddenly died. This was a grim warning to us all. Christians are not supposed to be passengers just depending on a pastor to get them to their destination. Remember the ten virgins who fell asleep.

PHILIPPIANS 2: 12   Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

We must obey Paul's teachings. Repentance saves us from hell. What other dangers do we still need to be saved from? We need to be saved from the errors in our churches. The cozy consensus of man-made doctrine and tradition that lulls us into a complacent sleep while our leaders take us into the Great Tribulation.

If Christians are not ready for the Second Coming of Jesus, then there will come a sudden death in the Great Tribulation.