I want us to turn to the seventh chapter in Matthew,
the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 7, and to consider the
words that we find here in verses 7 and 8. Ask, and it shall be given you.
Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened." Familiar words, part of the Sermon on the Mount, and
we see how again here the Lord Jesus in the Sermon speaks of
prayer. We read there in that previous
chapter at verse 9, following in chapter 6, how Christ gives
instruction with regards to the manner of our praying, after
this manner, therefore, pray ye. And then there follows that
pattern prayer, which is repeated, as you're aware, in Luke chapter
11. when he says, when you pray,
say. And so we have this instruction
with regards to what is to form the content of our prayers. The Lord himself has given us
a pattern prayer. There are other prayers that
are recorded in scripture. Many of the Psalms are in the
form of prayers. Then we have that remarkable
prayer of Daniel 9. prayer of Jonah there in chapter
2 of the book when we find him in the belly of the great fish
crying out to his God but there is something special of course
about this particular prayer because it is the Lord's instruction
we call it the Lord's prayer and in a sense that is a good
title to give to it because it reminds us that it is what he
himself uttered directly during the course of his earthly ministry
suppose there's that sense in which he is really the author
of all the prayers of scripture because all scripture is given
by inspiration of God But this pattern prayer should really
instruct us with regards to the manner in which we are to come
before God and how we are to construct, as it were, our prayers,
the content of our prayers. But then we have to remember
that it is not enough. It is not enough simply to say
words. We must not only say our prayers,
we must pray our prayers. There must be that persistence
and that perseverance in prayers. And really tonight the matter
that I want to take up is that of importunity, the importance
of importunity. The Lord says, Ask, and it shall
be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. And I want to divide what I say
into two basic parts. First of all, consider how as
sinners we are to come requesting grace from God. and then in the
second place to consider how that God is always ready and
more than ready to give the thing that we ask of Him. First of
all then, the sinner's request for grace. How do these words
that I've read as our text, how do these words fit into the context
of this prayer? this sermon. These three chapters, 5, 6, and
7, as you know, contain what we refer to as the Sermon on
the Mount, and we ought really to take account of that general
context in which these two verses are set. If we go back in the
sermon to chapter 5, We have a key verse there at verse 20,
when the Lord says in his preaching, I say unto you that except your
righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven. The importance of that particular
statement should not escape us. The people have gathered together
and it's as he sees the multitudes that the Lord goes into the mountain
and he sits as was the wont with the rabbi and his disciples come
to him and he begins to instruct them. He's instructing his disciples
but the multitudes are about him and remember how at the end
of the sermon. When he had ended all these sayings,
the people were astonished, we are told, at his doctrine, for
he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
Oh, it's these Pharisees and these scribes who are so much
the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there in that verse
that we just referred to in chapter 5, except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
Christ says, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. These Pharisees and these scribes
They, as you know, were simply legalists. They were concerned,
it seems really, for nothing more than the outward forms of
religion. And how they looked to themselves,
and how they congratulated themselves. And how Paul, when he was Saul,
Saul of Tarsus, he was very much a Pharisee, he was the son of
a Pharisee, and he can say that his life then was one, as touching
the law, he was blameless. Again he says, as touching the
law, he was a Pharisee, that was his great boast. After the
most strictest text of our religion, he says, a sect of our religion,
I lived a Pharisee. He lived the life of a Pharisee. He congratulated himself on his
righteousness, imagining that he had established a righteousness
by his obedience to not only the Lord of God, but all the
traditions of the Father, something that would commend himself to
God. But how differently Paul speaks
when he is called by the grace of God, when he experiences that
remarkable conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a different
understanding then of the Lord of God. He says as much in Romans
chapter 7, we know that the law is spiritual. that I am carnal,
sold unto sin. He goes on, he says, I was alive
without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived
and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life I found to be unto death. He has a very different comprehension
and understanding now of what the law is. He was once one of
those Pharisees of whom the Lord is speaking there in chapter
5, when he tells his disciples, except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. You shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. In this sermon we see how the
Lord Jesus Christ himself is expounding that law of God. How Christ is bringing forth
before his disciples the true spirituality of the Lord of God. It is not just a matter of the
externals, the way in which a person conducts themselves, the manner
of their living. know it also has to do with the
very attitudes of their hearts. What the Lord goes on to say
there after referring to those Pharisees in chapter 5 verse
21, He says you have heard that it was said by them of old time
thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger
of the judgment but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with
his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment
and whosoever shall say to his brother Raka shall be in danger
of the council but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be
in danger of hell fire or you can be guilty of transgressing
that Sixth Commandment. If you speak in that bitter fashion
towards a man. That's what the Lord is saying.
And then if you know He goes on to say something more. When
He expounds the real significance of the Seventh Commandment. ye
have heard that it was said by them of old time they shan't
not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart." It's a matter of the heart. It's not
just a matter of the hand. It's not just what a man does.
It's the way in which the man thinks. It's the feelings that
he has. It's those lusts that lie deep in his fallen nature. Now, how can anyone, how can
anyone conform to that righteousness that the Lord Jesus Christ is
teaching as he begins to expound the real significance of the
Lord of God. It's not just a matter of the
letter of the law, or that Lord of God. It is given really to
condemn men that is the ministry of the law that's the ministration
of the law we know that what things whoever the law saith
it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world become guilty before God that's
the word that was written by Paul to the Romans. How different
there, you see. He now sees that the law is really
that ministration of death and condemnation. No man can be justified
by the deeds of the law, for by the law is the knowledge of
sin. What is that ministry of the
law? The law is not made for a righteous
man. He says, but for the lawless
and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners. That is the
ministry of the law. So, how are we to obtain that
righteousness that is so important, that righteousness that exceeds
the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees? Well, we have
to ask. Ask and it shall be given you.
seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you
for everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and
him that knocketh it shall be opened this is the only way in
which a man can obtain a righteousness that exceeds exceeds the righteousness
of scribes and of pharisees and that was the message of course
that we find Paul preaching There at Antioch, in Pisidia, in Acts
chapter 13, he tells the people plainly, everyone that believeth
in him, everyone that believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ, obtains
a justification, a righteousness, that they could never obtain
by their own keeping of the law. That's his message. All that
believe in him are justified from all things, that they could
not be justified from by the deeds of the Lord." It's not
their doing, it's the doing of another, and that was Paul's
great desire to be found in Christ, to be found in Him. He says,
"...not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, that which
was once all his boast, but that righteousness which is of God,
the righteousness of Christ, which is by faith." All our own righteousnesses are
altogether excluded. We might imagine, and many do
imagine, they have a righteousness just as Saul of Tarsus did. When
his boast was that touching the righteousness of the Lord he
was a blameless man because he was not a murderer, he was not
an adulterer. he didn't do any of those things
and yet of course he didn't understand that his heart was full of all
iniquity and where as man looks on the outward appearance the
Lord is looking upon the heart and so he's brought to realize
that the righteousness that will justify him That righteousness
that will save him must come from God. It's something that
must be sought after. And this is the message that
is here being preached by the Lord Jesus. We have to ask. We
have to seek. We have to knock. We have to
come to Him, and we have to come to Him for everything. Yeah,
when we do this, when we do come, when we pray, and there certainly
is this emphasis upon the importance of prayer back in chapter 6 and
again here in chapter 7. When we pray we might think that
if we're praying in accordance with the instruction of the Lord
Jesus Christ there must be something good and meritorious in it. We
might think, well, I shall be surely heard now if I am sincere,
if I'm pouring out my soul in prayer to God, if I have that
impotunity, if I have that perseverance, that determination, surely if
I pray in that manner the Lord will hear me. Well, we're not
to think in such a fashion as that. We have to come always
as those who have nothing. And we feel even the poverty
of our prayers. And we have to beg for everything. As the hymn says, a beggar poor
at mercy's door lies such a wretch as I, thou knowest my need is
great indeed. Lord, hear me when I cry. It's the Lord who must hear.
It is only the Lord who can answer and do any good thing for us.
And see how the Lord's instruction follows. He says at verse 9,
what money is there of you, whom if his son ask bread will give
him a stone, or if he ask a fish will give him a serpent? If ye
then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good
things to them that ask him? Oh, it is God's. who gives and
it is for us to come as those who recognize that we must receive
every good thing at his hand. Here the Lord says your Father
which is in heaven will give every good thing. Now you know
how in Luke's account that verse that is so similar there in Luke
11 is somewhat different, if he then being evil You 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? The good thing, the good thing
that God is pleased to give is the Holy Spirit. And that is
the best of all the gifts of God. Because of course it is
the Spirit who makes real to us the things of God who reveals
to us the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Spirit
who comes to apply that great salvation that was procured and
purchased by the Lord Jesus, even that salvation that the
Father had purposed from all eternity. Where would we be? What would we be but for that
ministry of the Holy Spirit? How Paul speaks of the ministration
of the Spirit, that's how Paul describes what the Gospel is.
And this day in which we're living is the dispensation of the Holy
Spirit. This is the day of grace. As
we read there in 2 Corinthians 6, I have heard thee in a time
accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee. Behold,
now is the day of salvation. Behold, now is the day of salvation. It is that day in which we have
the ministration of the Spirit, the law of the Spirit of life
in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit making known to us those
things of the gospel, those things of the grace of God. And what
are we to do that we might obtain these blessings? We have to come
and we have to do as the Lord is saying here in this passage,
ask, seek, knock, everyone that asketh receiveth, he that seeketh
findeth, to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Now we have
to come as those who would not only desire that we might pray
in a right manner and fashion and form our prayers after the
pattern that was shown by the Lord Jesus Christ himself but
come with that spirit of importunity. We read later of that widow who
comes to the Lord in chapter 15 and she seems initially sadly
to be refused not only by the disciples but it seems that even
the Lord himself will refuse her Look at what it says there
in chapter 15, verse 21. We have Christ coming into the
coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with a devil. Her form of address is right
and proper. She recognizes this one as David's
son, the promised one, the Messiah of God. Have mercy on me, O Lord,
thou son of David. But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for
she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am
not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He had
come now, you see, into the coast of Tyre and Sidon, and she was
a Canaanite. But he only sent his heirs to
the lost sheep of Israel. Then came she and worshipped
him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It
is not me to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.
And she said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which
fall from their master's table. Then Jesus answered and said
unto her, A woman great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as
thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. And Jesus departed from thence,
and came nigh unto the sea of Galilee. It is obvious that the
Lord went there for that specific purpose. Just as in John 4 he
must needs go through Samaria to meet the Samaritan woman at
the well of Syca. So here he must go into the coast
of Tyre and Sidon to meet this Canaanite woman. And how we see
her faith and how the Lord really in his dealings with her is drawing
out that faith. And I was quite struck by the
remark, the comment that Calvin makes here. He says concerning
this woman and the way the Lord treats her that it seems as if
the door is shut to her. That's how it appears. The door
is shut fast. from those words that the Lord
speaks. But then, says Calvin, her faith tried to get through
the cracks in the wood. Now that, surely, is importunity. She will not be denied. And that's how we have to come.
We have to ask. We have to seek. We have to knock. We have to keep on coming and
calling. And of course, the Lord tells
a parable. concerning perseverance in prayer
and the importance of importunity when he speaks there at the beginning
of Luke 18, he spoke a parable unto them to this end that men
ought always to pray and not to faint saying there was in
a city a judge which feared not God neither regarded man and
there was a widow in that city and she came unto him saying
avenge me of mine adversary And he would not for a while, but
afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard
man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by
her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what
the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with
them? I tell you, that he will avenge
them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth." Well, what is
it that the Lord is teaching here? He is teaching the importance
that we come, and we come to ask of God for grace, that we
have nothing. It is all to be the free gift
of God, but He will have us come. and He will have us to ask and
to persevere and not to be those ready to give over and to give
up. What we really see here in the second place is God's great
readiness to give. As we look more closely at the
actual words of the text, what we have in verse 7 is in
the imperative mood, it's a threefold commandment that the Lord is
giving. Ask, He says, and it shall be
given you. Seek, and ye shall find, knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. Now He's not requesting them
to do these things, He's telling them that this is what they ought
to be doing. And His commandments John says,
are not grievous. If we think about it, if the
Lord Jesus Christ only disclosed to us the true
nature of his law, if the Lord only unfolded to us the spirituality
and the breadth of his law, which is what he is doing in a sense
throughout this sermon, he is showing what the law really means.
It's much more, as I said, than the letter of the law and the
externals of the law. The righteousness of the Pharisees,
the righteousness of the scribes, it's not that. The Lord shows
the spiritual nature of the law, but if that was all that the
Lord was to do, what would we as sinners do? we would be utterly lost. But
you see, there is a righteousness and it can be obtained. And how
is it to be obtained? Well, we ask and God gives. That's how the righteousness
is to be obtained. Remember the language of John
the Baptist here in the third chapter of the Gospel of of the
Apostle John. What does the Baptist say? A
man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.
We can receive nothing unless it's given us from heaven. All
that we have, all that we come into the possession of is the
gift of God. We have nothing of our own. We
are constantly debtors to God. We are debtors for our very being,
the very fact that we exist at all. It is God who has made us,
not we ourselves. We are indebted to Him for the
breath that we breathe. We are indebted to Him for the
food that we eat. Everything is the provision of
God. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him. And God is a great giver. It is more blessed, He says,
to give than to receive. Well, that's our comfort. It
is more blessed to give, and God is the giver. It's said that
on one occasion, Elizabeth I challenged Walter Raleigh and said to him,
when, Raleigh, will you give up begging of me? When will you
give up begging of me? And Raleigh's reply was, when
your majesty leaves off giving. And how God, you see, is that
one who is ever willing to give. It is more blessed to give. God
is the giver. And so when the Lord gives this commandment,
oh yes, it's a word of command, but it's not a grievous commandment. It's a gospel precept that the
Lord sets before us. as He instructs us, as He commands
us, that we're to ask, we're to seek, and we're to knock. But then in what follows, of
course, He underlines the commandment, as it were, the precept, by adding
the promise, everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh
findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be open. Oh, that is
the way of God in the gospel. He doesn't just give precepts. We don't just find the Lord issuing
these commandments, but to encourage He adds that gracious word of
promise. And that's what we have here,
and it's interesting. Because in verse 8, we have two
present tenses and then a future tense. Everyone that asketh,
receiveth. and he that seeketh findeth and
the verb there to receive and to find both in the present tense
and then he says and to him that knocketh it shall be opened and
that's in the future tense you see there's a promise here both
for the present and for the future that's the promise of God it's
not just a promise for today there's a promise also for tomorrow
Oh, God is so gracious. He has said before they call,
I will answer, whilst they are yet speaking, I will hear. He will bring His people into
an immediate possession of the thing they request, but that
doesn't mean that He won't give again also on the morrow. And then also, what do we see
in these verses? We have the language, of the
covenant, the shalls and the wills of the covenant of grace. Ask
and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. Oh, God says in the covenant,
I will and ye shall. There in Ezekiel 1662, I will
establish my covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am
the Lord. When the Lord hears our prayers
and answers our prayers, then we know He's the Lord. Oh, there's
a revealing of Himself. and the revealing of Himself
in the Lord Jesus Christ because it's in Christ that all these
promises, all the promises of God in Him are yay and in Him
are amen to the glory of God by us. Oh God is glorified when
we ask and He gives. It's not just that Christ then
is giving commandment, it's not just gospel precept, it's gospel
promise, And then surely here we are also reminded how that
God is a father to his people. As the Lord continues there,
Verse 9, 10, and 11. What man is there of you whom,
if his son ask bread, shall 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 Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that
ask it? Or God is able, you see, to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. We might
ask Him one thing, but God is able to give us a greater thing
than we ask for. And He is that One who is our
Father in Heaven. He spared not. His own Son, says
Paul, but delivered Him up for us all. How much more shall He
not also freely give us all things? If He has given that greatest
of all gifts, if He has not spared His only begotten Son, but delivered
Him up for sinners, what would God withhold from those sinners
who are so singularly favored with that great gift? Oh, God
is good. and God does good. We like to
give good gifts to our children, but what we give to our children
is nothing compared with the gifts of God. How much more,
says Christ, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven
give good things to them that ask? Thou art good, says the
psalmist, and thou doest good. He is a kind God. He is a gracious
God, like as a father. pitieth his children, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear him. He knoweth our frame, he remembereth
that we are dust, says the psalmist. And so how are we to address
him? Oh, we are to come, and we are to come even as Christ
instructs us. He is the pattern. How are we
to call upon him? When ye pray, say, Our Father,
which art in heaven. always to address him, you see,
as our father. Now, that is a name that is much abused. There are some who speak of the
universal fatherhood of God. They don't have the idea, you
see, of the doctrines of grace, they don't have the idea of election
and reprobation. God is every man's father. You
can think of the poem by the Quaker, I think he was, John
Greenleaf Whittier, Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, forgive
our foolish ways. There are those who like to say,
well, God is the father of all men. And I know in the Free Presbyterian Church in Scotland,
years back there was some controversy over the fatherhood of God and
the abuse of that name and you'll find that they're very reluctant
to address God as Father. If you hear them in prayer, I've
heard some of these men speak and their prayers have been good
prayers. I'm not criticizing their prayer,
but they'll often simply refer to God as the Holy One, O Holy
One. Well, it's good. Our Father is
in heaven. His name is holy. We're not to
lose sight of that. But we are given instruction
here to address the Lord as our Father. And how are we to come? We're to come as freely as any
child would come to his father. We're to ask. We're to seek.
We're to knock. And we can be assured He will
He will hear us, or we'll find Him when we call upon Him. He'll
open when we knock to Him. And He is far, far more generous
than any human father could ever be. He will only give good things
because He is the God of all grace. Well, the Lord help us
tonight then to come again In this familiar fashion, we gather
to seek His face, to pray to Him, to commit ourselves into
His gracious hand, to ask His blessing upon us and upon the
work of grace here in Portus. Will the Lord help us as we come
to prayer?