Sermon Note – 1 November 2026

Sermon – 1 November 2026

Luke 11:11-13 (KJV) If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 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?

“How Much More Shall Your Heavenly Father Give?” is the title of our message taken from Luke’s Gospel chapter 11 and verses 11 to 13. We are on the topic of prayer and our Lord Jesus Christ has been answering the question from the disciples when they ask Him, “Lord teach us to pray.” And our Lord began in this chapter to teach us how to pray, by giving us the precepts of prayer. He told us the preface, our Father which art in heaven. How do we address God, that He is indeed Father in heaven?

To begin our prayer, and to begin our prayer with “Praise” – Hallowed be Thy name, and Thy kingdom come, that God would establish His kingdom on earth, that sinful man, fallen, miserable, in trouble, dying and destined for eternal hellfire, will be rescued from the grave and be brought back to God.

And how that tells us the Gospel has to go forth, the preaching of His Word has to be, be made so that souls may be saved. And we also saw the power of God. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And here the Lord shows us the aspects of our relationship to Him.

And then He shows us our relationship with one another and ourselves – Give us this day our daily bread – our Provision and how we need forgiveness for our sins daily. We transgress in the flesh and that we can come to the Lord to find Pardon for our sins. And that brings peace to our heart. The blood of Jesus Christ washed away our sins, took away the guilt that is in our hearts, so that peace and joy is restored in our hearts. And Protection – Leads us not into temptation, but delivers us from evil. And so the Lord taught us the precepts of prayer.

And that the Father in Heaven, as a good Father, would always want to have communion, have fellowship with His dear children. And we see how the Lord is willing very much to meet the needs of His children. His readiness and watchful care over His people to provide for their needs was given in an illustrative story.

You recall a few weeks ago when Jesus spoke concerning the meeting of a friend’s neighbour’s need. who came and asked for bread at midnight. Ah, it’s inconvenient. Everybody is asleep already. Children are tucked in bed. And don’t disturb me. No, no, no. Our Lord says this is not how it should be.

A good neighbour’s response. Rather, the good neighbour would rise and give all that as many as his neighbour would need. This was how our Lord would teach us concerning good neighbourliness. But in that story, He was also teaching us how our Father in Heaven is Someone who would answer our prayer, despite and in spite of inconvenience. In the heart of our Lord, he neither slumbers nor sleeps. He is always there to take care of us. He is always there to help us.

And so the Lord urges the disciples to keep that communion with the Father always. To keep that line of, channel of, communication open all the time. Because there are so many things that we do not know – how we ought to live this life. And He asked that the disciples learn the blessing of a consistent and persistent prayer life.
For we have a God who would answer our prayers. And so our Lord says in verse 9, “Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find.”

What a wonderful picture of a good father, isn’t it? And the encouragement for the people of God, that we have a Lord who answers prayer We are to ask, we are to seek, we are to knock. And in doing so, the Lord would give. And when you seek, you will find. And when you knock, it shall be opened unto you.

And the picture is given to us concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Lord said is the door. in which when we would enter, the sheep would find pasture. Turn with me to John’s Gospel, chapter 10. and verse 9. John’s Gospel chapter 10 and verse 9. Our Lord Jesus says, “I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.” In other words, life with God begins with life with the Lord Jesus Christ. And The Lord wants us to see that blessed communion, that blessed life with Him.

Dear friends, how is your prayer life? Are you moment by moment, day by day, receiving grace from God, receiving wisdom from Him, receiving life from Him? As you commune with Him, as you speak to Him concerning your needs, how is He answering your prayer?

Our Lord would go on in verse 11 to 13 to help us to see how He would be so gracious to give us the best gifts. And He would illustrate to us with a father answering the cry of a children to give them good physical gifts, physical needs.

And He goes on to explain that God would give to us, not just our physical needs, which we oftentimes believe that is topmost in our lives. But what God wants to give to us is the best gift – That is the Spirit of God. God Himself to be present with us. God Himself to give us that life, would continue to effervescent moment by moment and day by day.

And He describes that life in a wonderful manner when He said in verse 11, “if a son asks bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he For a fish, give him a serpent. Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” Here our Lord provides to us an illustration concerning how the Father would be willing to meet the needs of His people.

Bread speaks of our basic need, isn’t it? You need bread as a stable necessity for strength. And here the Lord says that of course if you ask Him to provide you with your daily bread, He will not hesitate to give you. Would a good father, instead of providing bread, would give a stone?

Something that would not nourish you? Something that would not help you at all? No, of course not. And will he give you fish? Or a serpent for a fish. Well, for a good meal, you need not just bread, isn’t it? A dish of fish would make a good combination with a basic staple. And here the Lord is saying that of course, He will not only provide you with your basic needs, He would also garnish your meal with something that is delicious and nourishing. He gives you fish.

And then a third thing was asked. Egg. Well in those days, poultry is very precious. And you don’t hear a lot in the scriptures concerning poultry sellers. But today, here in Singapore, it is one of the staple needs for a daily meal, isn’t it? You need eggs. And if you are buying eggs for your family, you realise that sometimes they come in 10, sometimes they come in 12. And sometimes they come in 30, a big supply. Well in those days, it’s a luxury to have egg for a meal.

And so our Lord says, would He give you a scorpion? Would the Lord give you something that would harm you, that would bite you? Would a good parent not provide for His own children? Sometimes we pray and we have a doubt in our mind. Would God really provide for us? Would God really answer our prayer? And instead of trusting Him to come to Him, Oftentimes we have doubts in our heart to say that, oh, is He really so loving? Is He really so good? Would He really provide me the best things in life? Well, this is so, isn’t it?

When you look at the beginning of creation. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden. It was the most beautiful manicured place where Adam and Eve had rest. They had the presence of God with them. The Lord provided everything for them, except they may not eat of the tree from the knowledge of good and evil.

For the Lord says, in the day that you would eat of the fruit of it, to die, you shall die. You shall surely die. And that itself is what we call a stone, a snake, a scorpion isn’t it? The Lord says, no, don’t take all these things. I put you in paradise. I give you the best. Do receive it with gratefulness. Do receive it with thanksgiving. And do receive it and be blessed to live perpetually on and on.

If Adam and Eve had not disobeyed the known will of God, they would have continued to live in paradise, isn’t it? If you have become a child of God, through Jesus Christ, your sins have been forgiven. Would not God provide for your needs, to take care of you, to help you? Well, the answer that our Lord wants to teach us is that He will. He will take care of you. He will provide for you the best things, just as He did for Adam and Eve. We need to listen to His voice. We need to listen to His leading. For the Lord indeed is a good Father.

Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 49 and verse 15. Isaiah chapter 49 and verse 15. How good is our God. Here Isaiah uses the picture of a mother with her sucking child. Isaiah 49 verse 15 says, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she could not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Isaiah 49 and verse 15. Can a woman forget her sucking child?

If you are a mother, you will not forget the child whom you bore in your womb for nine months, isn’t it? And to bring that child out, the kind of labour, the kind of pain, the kind of pressure that you go through. Would the mother after giving birth to the child, not love the child. Well, it is a maternal instinct, isn’t it? For the mother to love the child.

And so our Lord is trying to help us to see and understand the invisible God that you cannot see, who made you, who sustained you, that He loves you so truly. He loves you so dearly. That you are precious in His sight. God wants you to know that. And our Lord is trying to explain to His people. And the psalmist says so in Psalm 103 and verse 13.

He says, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” A good father would provide for his children, isn’t it? Of course, there are derelict fathers and mothers that we know of, Paul said to Timothy. “But if any will not provide for his own, especially those of his own house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel”.
And so our Lord is saying to us, that you know you have a good Father in heaven who will take care of all your needs. And you have to ask Him, isn’t it? And would He not give to you to help you? Of course He will help you. He loves you and seeks the best for you.

And then our Lord goes on in verse 13 to give the punchline. From the physical, He would now teach us the spiritual. Verse 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 to give the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. What is the role of the Spirit of God, of the Holy Spirit in the life of His people? Well, at conversion, when we come to God, the Spirit of God will come and dwell with us. In Israel, the Lord gave the command for Israel to build the tabernacle, to build the temple. It was a symbol of the presence of God with His people.

But in the New Testament, you see the temple was destroyed. There was no temple in Israel anymore, isn’t it?

When the New Testament church began, some years later in AD 70, the temple was destroyed. So where is the temple? Where is the presence of God? Well, Jesus told the woman, the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4, isn’t it? He that worshipped God, worshipped Him in spirit and in truth. Where is the temple? Well, the temple is in you.
When you come to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, the Holy Spirit comes and indwells you. And this is the best gift that the Lord would give to His people. His Spirit. And how do you receive the Spirit of God into your heart? How does God come and live with you? How do you become the temple of the Holy Spirit?

Well, Proverbs 1 verse 23 says, “Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my Spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you”. Turn you at my reproof. In other words, when we realise our sinful condition, when we realise our miserable estate, when we realise that we don’t know how to order our lives and we need help, when we turn at the reproof of God, when we are willing to receive instruction, when we are willing to be quiet before God and to hear His voice, Proverbs 1 verse 23 says, “Behold, I will pour out My Spirit unto you.”

The Spirit of God to come when we repent of our sins and ask Christ to come and dwell with us. His Spirit will come and live with us and to make known His Word to us. That was what Jesus said to the man Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night. Jesus said to him, “Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, except he be born of the… that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” You will not need just physical life, but spiritual life. And how does that spiritual life come to you? That spiritual life comes to you when you are born again.

When the Word of God, which is described here as the water, that would cleanse us from all our sins. The Word of God would come and rebuke us to tell us where we have gone wrong. Tell us where we have sinned against God. And that we are guilty before God. We cannot enter in our filthiness, in our sinful condition into the pure and holy estate of God’s kingdom. And that’s where we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom the Lord sent to take away the sins of this world.

And so when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ into our hearts, when the Spirit of God comes to dwell in our hearts, that’s where life comes and that’s where life begins to flow, effervescing in an everlasting way in our lives. And Isaiah, the prophet, describes this very well in Isaiah chapter 44. And verse 3 to 4, Isaiah chapter 44, and verse 3 to 4, he says, “Upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring, and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water”, causes the life that God gives through His Spirit, it’s like water upon the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, where life would come again. when the Spirit of God is given to us.

And so our Lord Jesus says that in order to begin that communion, that life with me, you need the Spirit of God to come to you. And how do you receive the Spirit of God? Well, you need to be born again. And when you are born again, the Spirit of God comes and indwells you. And what does the Spirit do in your life? Romans chapter 8 and verse 9 to 11. Romans chapter 8 and verse 9 to 11. Here the Word of God tells us what the Holy Spirit will do, the best gift that God would give you, the Spirit that would dwell in you.

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ. He is none of His.” But if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, that you become a child of God, you are adopted into the Kingdom of God through Christ, the Spirit of God comes and dwells with you. And if Christ be in you – “The body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” The Spirit of God will give you life to live a pure life, a good life, a righteous life. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you. The Spirit of God that comes to dwell in you, will give you life.
This is the same Spirit that raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day. Do you remember after Jesus died, He was buried? And how did He rise again from the dead? Well, our Lord tells us here, Paul describes for us, “He that raised Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Quicken, give you life. This is the life, the resurrection life. The Holy Spirit gives you that resurrection life. The new life that the Lord wants you to live. And what does that resurrection life entail? Romans chapter 8 and verse 26. The Spirit of God that is in us, that is our memory verse. It says here, likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities, our weakness, our proneness to move away from God. The Spirit of God would help our infirmities.

For we know not what we should pray for, or often times we don’t know what is good for us, isn’t it? “You say to pray, but what to pray? Sometimes I don’t know what to pray. What is good for me, I don’t know.” Well, do you have that situation that you don’t know? Indeed we don’t know. We don’t even know how to pray, isn’t it? What is good for us, we don’t even know.
When you are at a loss, the Lord is saying to you, I have given you the best gift. What is that best gift? That is the Holy Spirit. And what will the Holy Spirit do for you? Well, the Holy Spirit, here we are told in Romans 8 verse 26, to help our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray as we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The Spirit of God maketh intercession for us.” In other words, the Holy Spirit would teach us to pray and would intercede on our behalf to the Father, to help us, to help us to see, to know what is good for us.

And verse 28, verse 27 of Romans chapter 8. Would you turn there to Romans 8 and verse 27? That’s one verse after our memory verse. Here it says, “And he that searches the hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

So the Spirit of God will pray, make intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered. In other words, The times you pray, you seek for the best for the people around you, isn’t it? Your loved ones, your own parents, your own children. You seek the best for them and sometimes you agonise in your soul, isn’t it? What is the best for them? I would want to give all the best to them. Well, the Spirit of God in you groaneth to seek the best for you. And here we are told, and he that searches the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.

“Because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” In other words, the Spirit of God will lead you to know the will of God. And dear friends, how does the Holy Spirit that searches the heart, lead you to know the will of God?

It is through the Word of God, dear friends. For the Word of God is the Word that is given by the Spirit of God, isn’t it? The Holy Spirit is the one that gives to us His Word. And that is why the people of God need to take time to study the Word of God, to open your Bibles. And the Spirit of God will lead you to know the will of God through the Word of God.

The Bible says in the book of Timothy, 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and verses 16 to 17. It says here, “all scripture is given by inspiration of God.” All scripture is given by inspiration. The word there, “θεόπνευστος” “theopneustos”, “God breathed”. God breathed His Word to us through the Spirit.

The breath of God and all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. It’s God breathed. The Spirit of God gives to us His Word.

And it’s profitable for doctrine to teach you the principles of life. For reproof, to show you where you have gone wrong in your life. For correction, to having known where you have gone wrong in your life, to find the way back to God, to correct what is wrong. And for instruction in righteousness, to show you the right way, the right path to walk, after you have corrected yourself. that the man of God may be “perfect”, that is, may be “mature”, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, that your life would be profitable. So the Spirit of God that the Lord gives to you is something so precious.

It’s something that would bless you with the presence, the presence of God to guide you to know the will of God.
You see, when you ask for bread, the Lord will not give you a stone. The bread is a good thing. It’s the right thing to give, isn’t it? The Lord will not give you the wrong thing. He will not give you a stone. But He will give you what you need to nourish yourself. If you ask for a fish, the Lord will not give you a serpent.

Something that would harm you. But He will give you the fish, so that your meal will be complete. Isn’t it? And would you ask for an egg? He would give you a scorpion, something that would bite you? No, of course not. The Lord would give you that which is good for you, that which is according to His will. And what is that? Well, it’s according to the Word of God, isn’t it?

And how is it that we would learn the will of God to know what to pray? Turn with me to 1 John chapter 3 and verse 22. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 22. It says here, Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him. How is it that your prayers will always be answered?
Because your prayers would be according to that which is good for you. You would know what is good for you.

And how would you know what is good for you? Well, you have to go to the commandments of God, isn’t it? To know what is good for you. What are the commandments of God? Well, these are the laws of God that He gives to you in order for you to live.
Under His protection, just as it is, we have traffic rules. Red light, you’re supposed to stop. Green light, you’re supposed to move. When it’s red light, you don’t move, isn’t it?

When you move, when it’s red light, something drastic is going to happen. When you move at red light, and when it’s green light, you don’t move, well, then things don’t move at all, isn’t it?
Well, in order for the world to function, God has made all things well. We were speaking about how the Lord gives us the sun and how the earth makes a revolution and revolves around the sun. In a year, and at the same time, it is also moving, isn’t it? And it’s revolving.

And how is it that time and seasons meet so well? by the Lord. Well, it is from Him. You see, He is the Maker and He gives you the seasons. And so you know the right season. Even wintertime is a good season. Summertime is a good season. Different seasons of life. You stay indoors during wintertime, because it’s very cold outside. And you have the good things to do at home, isn’t it? When you are shut up. And when it’s summertime, you are out there.

There are other things that excite you. that the Lord allows you to have the sun there, the different seasons of life that God provides for us. Well, the Lord wants you to see that there is a certain way by which the world functions. And there is a certain way by which our relationship with Him and our relationship with one another functions and is given in His commandments. And when we would keep His commands, do His will, that’s where you will find your prayers answered. Isn’t it? 1 John 3 and verse 22.
And so the Spirit of God that dwells in us, adopts us, that we become His children. Romans 8 and verse 9 and verse 11. It says here, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. Now if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” And so if you are a child of God, then the Spirit of God would dwell in you. to teach you, to help you.

“But if the Spirit of Him that raises up Christ from the dead dwelleth in you, He that raises up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

Well, we have mentioned this before. I will repeat it again. But the Spirit of God not just adopts us to become His children, but the Spirit of God is also a seal that protects us. 1 John 4.4, it says here in 1 John 4:4, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them.” What is the “them”? That is the world, the devil and his minions. For greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.

The Spirit of God that dwells in you is greater than all the evil spirits that are in the world. So you have the Holy Spirit in you. You are not afraid. During the seventh month, during the festival of the hungry ghosts, you are not afraid. You hear a little noise somewhere and you say, what is that? What is that? You are not afraid. Why?

Because you know that the Spirit of God dwells in you. And the Spirit of God that is in you is greater than the evil spirit that is in the world. In other words, the evil spirit cannot take control of you, cannot take possession of you. But the Spirit of God that dwells in you is greater than all the spirits that are in the world. So the Spirit of God protects you. So the Lord gives you the best gift, isn’t it? His protection, His presence with you. And the Lord will also, through the Holy Spirit, guide you in your life. John 16 and verse 13. John 16 and verse 13.
“Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. For He speaketh not of Himself, but whatsoever He heareth, that shall He speak, and He shall show you the things to come.” He will guide you into all truths. The Spirit of God will lead you, guide you, show you the truth. And you will be able to distinguish truth from falsehood. The things that deceive you, the things that lead you astray, that harms you, you will know, you will be able to distinguish, you will be able to see clearly, right from wrong, true from false. And the Spirit of God also gives you wisdom. James 1 verse 5, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.” God does not withhold His wisdom from you.

When you would ask Him, Lord, I need help in my work. I need help in this project. I need help in this matter. I need help in my family life. I need help in this area.

You can ask the Lord and He will show you the way. And our text tells us that we have a good Father who will not deny you that which is good for you. He will give you the best.

That is the experience of Adam and Eve, isn’t it? When they were in paradise. When you have the Lord with you. That is what the thief heard from our Lord, who was hung on the cross beside Him. The Lord said to him, today ye shall be with me in paradise. In other words, you would have my presence with you. And dear friends, do you know where you will go after you die?

The Bible tells us, absent in the body is to be present with the Lord. That you would go to heaven. If you are a child of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you, you have no fear of death. Because your life, your soul, is protected and sealed by the Spirit of God, so that one day when the Lord Jesus Christ returns again, He would give you a new body. Body and soul together. You would have that incorruptible body that the Lord would give to you.

How much more shall your Heavenly Father give? The good gifts, isn’t it? your bread, your fish, your egg, and the best gift, the Spirit of God, the presence of God with you. What a privilege we have, as a people of God, isn’t it? God’s presence with you, to guide you, to bless you with His life daily.

How happy we are. How grateful we must be to be God’s children. So lovingly taken care of by our Lord. How precious we are in His sight. And how blessed are we to be His people. Dear friends, the Lord wants you to know that you have a good Father in Heaven.

And you come to Him through Jesus Christ, His Advocate. You will have no lack. As the psalmist says, “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want”, I shall have no lack. That’s what the Lord promised to His people. And that’s what the Lord promised to you.

Would we seek to walk close to Him, to follow Him? To know His will, to do His will, well, often times we don’t know. But the Spirit of God that is in us will teach us, will help us, will pray for us. And that’s the blessing we have as the children of God. We have the seal of the Holy Spirit, which is the earnest, the down payment of what we shall be at the day when Christ would come to receive us to glory.

May the Lord help us to take hold of the blessed hope and to live that life of purity, to seek to be close to God and find life, moment by moment, daily, to do His will. And that the reward that He would give to us at the day of His coming is sure, dear friends. “Behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me”, the Lord says.

Let us run this race that the Lord has for us, that we may obtain. May the Lord help us. Let us pray. Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word. Thank Thee for Thy grace in helping us to see what a good Father in Heaven we have. And through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Advocate, He provides for us and leads us to the best things in life. Help us, Father, to do Thy holy will, to receive Thy utmost blessings. This I pray with thanksgiving. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.