Speaking for the help of the
Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to the Gospel according
to Luke chapter 11, and reading from our text to verses 9 and
10. 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 for everyone that asketh receiveth
and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. Luke 11 verses 9 and 10 and his
subjects, the overall subject is prayer but it is the way that
God hath given, prescribed to obtain that which we have a felt
need of. Not just prayer, but in the specific
way of this text that it is a reminder to ask and seek and knock. Now as we commence this morning,
I want us to think of several words that are set forth The
first is prayer, and that is the subject over all, and a reminder
of what a vital thing it is, as Christians, that we pray. And God has instituted it, that
men should call upon the name of the Lord, and that he who
dwells in heaven, who is a spirit that filleth all things, that
He hears His people, He hears creatures, He hears men who pray
unto Him, who seek unto Him here below. Now the Lord always taught
that man ought always to pray and not to faint. We need often
reminding the path of prayer that may be some of us this morning,
that we are guilty of restraining prayer, Neglecting prayer, we
wonder why things not going right, wonder why we're not receiving
the helps from the Lord. But where we have need, and the
Lord's people will have needs, and God will see to it that they're
not able to help themselves and things don't go well, things
are not right. And we do not have power to do
what we want to do or to bring about what we design to be brought
about, we have needs and you make sure that we cannot do that
ourselves so that we do pray and we do ask Him and we do come
to Him and He is glorified, He is honoured. Our need is God's
opportunity or God's way of bringing us to Him and magnifying himself
in our lives in supplying that need. And oh, that we could more
often think about that, that that which is impossible with
men is not impossible with God. And those things of which we
feel so helpless in, and may have proved it for a long period,
that they are actually those things that God will be glorified
in appearing for us in. The verse then is prayer, we
have here the Lord's Prayer, then we have the words of our
text, and then we have the illustration of giving good gifts as a father
to his children, and how much more shall your Heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, or in another place,
good gifts to them that ask Him. The way it is rendered here,
is real encouragement to pray and to ask whether we feel we
have the Spirit or not. Because what is here is a situation
of asking when we're asking for the Spirit. And so, feel do not
to have the Spirit. And the devil will say, well
you can't pray unless you are praying in the Spirit. Which
in one sense is true, but here it's very clearly set forth that
those who feel they don't have the Spirit can ask of the Father,
the Holy Spirit. The second thing or word is need
or needing. Our Lord told the parable concerning
the one asking his friend for the loaves and we read in verse
8 that he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And when we're thinking of prayer
and really the whole subject here, it centers around need,
a felt need. And with God's people, there
will be needs that are very different than those of those still dead
in trespasses and sins. All have need of salvation. All have need of being saved
from the wrath to come. But all do not feel that. And
so a sinner that feels his need, as the hymn writer says, is welcomed
to the throne of grace as Saviour's blood to plead. And when we have
it set before us in this way, we may ask ourselves, what is
our need? What do we feel to have need
of? Whether it is spiritual, providential,
or whatever it is, This is what brings to prayer and then is
becoming the subject of prayer. When our Lord taught of prayer
concerning the Pharisee and the publican in the temple, the publican
was praying from a sense of need, God be merciful to me a sinner. The Pharisee did not express
any need at all. All he was expressing was what
he was and how proud he was that he was not like the publican
and able to speak of his own good works. He didn't have a
need. But it was the publican that
went down to his house justified rather than the other. So may
we bear that in mind. What is our need? Whatever it
is. And that need then is the basis
of our prayer and the specific things that we bring before God. So then the other word that is
here is asking. And you may join with that, receiving. I want to look later at the knocking
and the seeking, because specifically in our text, but to think of
this to ask. Where there is a need, there
is to be asking. And where there is asking, then
there is receiving. And right through this passage,
these things are put forth. There is a need, there is an
asking, and there is a receiving. And there's many assurances that
those that ask, they're not giving something different, they're
giving given what they actually have asked for. And it is very
specific. We need to be careful of what
we ask, because those are those things that what we're actually
given. So may that thought remain with
us in our lives as we go forth from this service. How much do
we ask of the Lord? What do we ask? And what do we
receive of the Lord? What does He give us? How many
times do we match up what we've asked with what we have been
given and are mindful of that and give thanks to the Lord and
give praise to Him? Because if we are not noticing
what has been given, we will not give thanks and we will not
be encouraged that He has answered our petitions, that He has given
us that which we have desired of Him. So then there is the
asking, the receiving, the giving, and the giver is set forth in
the parable that follows, as our Heavenly Father, as a good
giver, as one that has the power and ability, and that these things
are not earned, they are given, freely given. 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?" It's a beautiful thing to realize the gospel is a gospel
of giving, free giving. It is from God, and may we always
remember that. So I want to look now then at
this word as God's provision, God's method and way that He'd
have His people's needs supplied. It's not just prayer as prayer
on its own, but it's things that are joined with prayer. It's a very specific method and
set before us. So, two main points. Firstly,
a direction as to how we are to obtain what we need from the
Lord. How we are to do it. And then
secondly, an assurance of the success of this method. Look at the words of our text
again. Verse 9, And I say unto you,
and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and
it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh, receiveth,
and he that seeketh, findeth, and to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. So we have the method and the
assurance that it will be effective, really, doubly that is assured
in these verses. So what is the method then? Firstly it is to ask. We may say in this first most
direct it is in a pathway of prayer to come and ask of the
Lord. Ask for something to be given. Not, yes, we may pray for others,
but really such things will be an exercise for ourselves. Ask and it shall be given you. We may pray for a blessing on
another person, And we are given that answer, and in one sense
they receive the benefit of it, but it's given to us to see that
answer and that provision for them. But this is the very first
thing, and we must not go around that to any second way, but come
first in the way of asking in the attitude of prayer. You can pray anywhere. The Lord
directs in the closet, rather than to be paraded before men,
it is coming and seeking the Lord privately. Sometimes it
can be audible, sometimes it is silent, sometimes others round
about us will notice that we are praying, even though we are
not audible, like Hannah in the temple, her lips move, her voice
was not heard, And Eli knew that something was going on. He thought
that she was drunken, but she was praying. And then there can
be like Nehemiah before the king, and he prayed unto God, but the
king wouldn't have realized that his heart was being lifted up
before God. asking of the Lord to find favour
before the King. We may be in any attitude in
any place, but in that reverent way as before the Lord, not in
the light, trifling, glib way that so many will speak of prayer. May we be delivered from that
and the of, or thought of, we are coming
before Him who is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and
it is to come in a reverent way, though we may come boldly and
are exhorted to do so, knowing that God has directed in the
way of prayer, yet it is not, in an irreverent way, a light
way, a trifling way, but remembering who the Lord is. remembering
who we are. God is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints, to be had in reverence of all them
that are about him. And all of our asking, it is
in that way that becomes asking a king, asking a sovereign. So that is the first step. Then there is a direction of
seeking. Now, we're going to look in a
moment at some ways that these are applied, but maybe we will
confine it first so we get an idea of seeking, where we are
first desirous of knowing the things of God. We are feeling
our sinnership, we feel our ignorance of the things of God, We feel
how little we know about the Bible and about the way of salvation,
and we want to know more. We want to know how man can be
saved. We want to know how we can be
saved, how our sins can be forgiven. We want to know the things of
God, and we ask the Lord that we might know, and we might understand,
and we might be taught, and we might be saved. Well, having
asked that, then we are directed to seek. We are to not just expect
this revelation from heaven, independent of means. To where
do we seek? First it is to the Word of God. We have the Holy Bible, the only
revelation of God to man, and all that we know of the things
of God are known in the pages of this book, from Revelation
right back to Genesis, all is the Holy Word inspired Word of
God. And anyone who comes with any
supposed revelation or supposed ideas that are not found in the
Holy Word of God, that is not an answer to our prayers. That is not the way of salvation. The way that the Holy Spirit
will answer our prayers, and God will answer our prayers,
is to direct to the book that He has authored, that is the
revelation of God to man, that is the work of the Holy Spirit,
who also shall reveal it unto us. It is to the law and to the
testimony All scripture is given by inspiration of God. We must
be very clear on this, otherwise men are led to all sorts of ideas
and all sorts of ways and all sorts of errors when they draw
away from the Word of God. And so, when we seek, we seek
the Word of God. We believe that was what it was,
the case with the eunuch, when Philip was sent to him in the
wilderness, he was reading in the prophet Isaiah, reading of
the prophecies of the sufferings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. If you and I are praying for
the Lord's blessing, then may we be seeking in the Word of
God. Not just reading it, but seeking
the truth in it. like the Maria's, who serves
the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so. Not just prayer, but seeking
as well. And then when we come to passages
that we don't understand. Again, we think of the eunuch.
God sent to him Philip, and the first thing he asked him was,
understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, how can
I except some man guide me? And he said, of whom does the
prophet speak, of himself or some other man? He did not understand
that passage. And he asked, he desired Philip
to come up in the chariot. and to explain that passage to
him. He began at the same scripture
and preached unto him, Jesus. And here we have the knocking,
or the way, the desiring that that which is closed to us be
opened to us. Ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. And so there is a asking, Lord
interpret this passage, and asking that it might be again used through
means. God sent Philip, that's a preacher. So we could go back to the seeking
again. Where do we seek? Would we go
to the local market? Would we go to the amusement
parlours? Would we go to a football stadium? Would we expect to find the answer
and find that help for our soul there? Or should we rather seek
to the people of God, to the house of God, to where the Bible
is central and where the Word of God is explained and set forth
and preached? That is where we should seek.
to find the answers that we are asking for. That is what we are
to do. Seek out a place. Many of those
that have been awakened to their need of a saviour, they've gone
to many stated places of worship before they have found one in
which they felt that they could find the answers to what they
were seeking. Many, they'll go to one place,
and they find them just a religious social club, they'll find just
the world dressed up in the garb of religion, or they'll find
the Bible hardly ever opened, or the Bible read, but it's just
read like any other book, and the deep that coucheth beneath,
the blessing of the Spirit upon it is not sought for, and it
doesn't seem to affect the lives of those who come to the Word
of God. They're just as worldly, as carnal,
and as if those who've never heard the Word of God at all. And sometimes it is just the
Spirit that is there. It just does not accord to the
Spirit of an awakened sinner, one that needs the Saviour, one
for whom this world is vanity and empty and has a blight on
it, one who'd been brought out from the world, and maybe worldly
amusements, and they go into a place of worship, and they
think, well, what's so different than this? It's just the same
worldly amusements. It's still the same atmosphere
that I've been brought out from. And so many have gone from one
place to another place, and then in God's providence, he has directed
them where they shall hear the truth and where they shall find
what they seek for, and what they have asked for, and where
that is the case, then they are to abide there, and to remain
there, and to seek the blessing of the Lord in that place. Because in that place as well,
there'll be those that open up the Scriptures. Knock and it
shall be opened unto you. I wonder how much of our attendance
on the means of grace, our attendance in the house of God is attended
by knocking, praying in a way that we are asking the Lord,
Lord open, aren't this my problem, my need? These scriptures that
I've been reading and I don't understand, may the preacher
take that passage, may explain that passage, and we can say
that our prayers then, instead of characterised by asking, they're
characterised by knocking. So the method here, ask, and
it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. In setting forth this, idea as
well. Not only are we to ask, but it
is active seeking. And when we do find, then it
may be that though we realise that this is what we have sought
for, we still do not understand it. We still need it to be opened
to us. The truths are just not lying
strewn on the surface. There is a deep that couches
beneath. This, in one sense, is like our
Lord teaching in parables, because all the multitude, they heard
the parables. It was only afterwards that the
disciples came and asked the Lord the meaning of them. They
were knocking, as it were, to ask that he'd expound to them.
Others, they heard them, they went away, They'd heard the story,
they were happy with what they'd heard, they didn't want any deeper
knowledge or teaching. Here's a good thing, where there's
that following up what we have heard. Again, like the Bereans,
when they heard Paul the Apostle preaching, they searched the
Scriptures daily whether these things were so, therefore many
of them believed. they no doubt were asking, but
they were certainly seeking, and that they were wanting to
have those scriptures opened to them. So this method of asking,
of seeking, and of knocking, it can be applied also when we
are seeking a blessing from the Lord. We mentioned of Hannah,
who was childless, who came to the temple, and she asked a man-child
of the Lord and promised that if the Lord gave her that blessing,
then she would lend him forever, all his life. Lend him to the Lord. And she then continued praying
in the temple. She sought to go to the house
of God and to lay before the Lord her need. And continued,
as it were, knocking at that place, asking importunate prayer. And that's what's set before
us in verse eight. He will not give him because
he is his friend, but because of his importunity. And that's like continuing knocking
to gain an entrance or to gain what we've asked for. Jacob was
of a similar way. When Esau was coming against
him, he was returning back from being with Laban, and he puts
his family over the brook. He goes over, he's left alone,
and he wrestles with the angel. The angel wrestled with him.
That was one of the pre-incarnation appearances of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He wrestled with God and with
man and prevailed, therefore his name was changed from Jacob,
supplanter, to Israel, thou hast had power with God. So Jacob's prayer was not just
asking, but it was a definite going over The brook going to
a seeking a place where he would specifically ask of the Lord
and wrestle with the Lord and he continued knocking as it were,
continued that prayer until he'd obtained that blessing. There was another thing added
to that as well that he took the steps to pacify his brother. He used means in that way. not just prayer but seeking to
use the means that his brother's wrath be turned away. We think
of Jabez's prayer in the Chronicles, O that thou hast blessed me indeed,
that thou hast keep'd me from evil, that it do not grieve me,
that he desire that his coast be enlarged. And so there may
be those times where seeking specific blessings from the Lord
the forgiveness and pardon of our sin, the blessing of the
peace of God in our souls, the blessing of grace to bear a particular
trial or hard thing in providence. The Apostle Paul had the thorn
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet him, and he
sought the Lord three times for that thing, urgently asking that
that be taken away. But God said he wouldn't take
it away, but he would give him grace to bear it. My grace is
sufficient for thee. And these things are to be sought
for. It may be we are seeking for
a deliverance from a particular snare, or a temptation, a habit,
a pathway in life, and we're asking of the Lord for it. We're also seeking that we might
be delivered from it. We're not sinning that grace
might abound. We're not saying, well, I cannot
do it myself, therefore I'm just going to go on in the way that
I'm going. And if the Lord converts me,
if the Lord appears and saves me, then I'll turn from that
way. There are those who have fallen,
into that snare over the years, and really where we are asking,
especially to be delivered from snares or temptations, that that
is a sincere asking. We will be doing everything in
our power to be delivered from it, ineffectual as it may be,
It will grieve us every time we fall, and we may fall many,
many times, but we won't be saying, well, there's nothing I can do,
and just excusing it, and making excuses before man, especially
where there's things that we're doing that is open before man. People are seeing it, maybe the
ungodly are seeing it, and they're saying, why do you walk in that
path? Well, a terrible answer would
be, well, the Lord hasn't help me to walk in a different path
or to change my path, when you actually know what is right and
know what we should be doing. We have many things that we cannot
deliver ourselves from and save ourselves from, but if we really
know the evil of them, then we won't be making excuses, we won't
be just praying, We'll be seeking, we'll be knocking, we'll show
in every way that we want to be free and set free from this
snare and this path, this way. So this prescription by the Lord
is so vital in this and may the message this morning be, if you're
one that is just praying, but there's no seeking, no urgency,
no knocking, then Remember, that is not the prescription that's
set before us here. Maybe in Providence as well,
we're asking of the Lord. Maybe if you're seeking for a
particular job, a place of employment, would we just ask and pray, Lord,
provide me a place of employment? And that's all we do? Or would
we get the newspaper? and we look at the job adverts
and we'd use other means of finding a suitable place, we'd seek for
a position. Of course we should seek a position
in that way. And it is in that way the Lord
directs. I can think of several places
of employment that I've had, that has been the case. The first
time After I finished my apprenticeship, I was coming to the end of that,
and at that time, I did not want a job in a small firm. In my own mind, I wanted one
in a large firm. But I looked in the newspaper,
and there's a job advertised, and it fitted my qualifications,
my description exactly. So exactly, I felt, even though
I didn't want that in a small firm, I would apply, and the
Lord so ordered it. He changed my mind. He gave me
that employment, and for four years, the major stepping stone
that was in my life. And then over here as well, losing
the employment that I had from Australia when we first came
over to England, and then opening the newspaper on the Friday,
and seeing an ad again, exactly describing what was my need,
applying, and receiving the invitation to come for an interview on the
following Tuesday, and starting work on Wednesday. That quick.
And yet, if I hadn't have opened the newspaper, hadn't looked
and used that means, I would never have had that position
again. a wonderful provision from the
law. If we are seeking an employment,
then we ask, but we also seek. And with the knocking, there
is to be, when we see that ad, we write, we ask. I remember
my first employment after school, an apprenticeship, and I applied,
and I didn't get an invitation for an interview, and they advertised
a job again. But I wanted that job. So I contacted
the firm, or the hospital it was, and asked them why I hadn't
been offered an interview. And they said, well, you live
too far away. They'd made a mistake. They'd taken my place of living
was where I'd gone to school. which was 10 miles further away
from where I lived. As soon as that mistake was rectified,
they took me in for an interview, and I got that four-year apprenticeship. If I hadn't have knocked, if
I'd just said, oh, they've advertised again, and just let it rest,
then I would never have had that position. Yes, sometimes we must
cease and must stop trying, but there are other times that We
don't take no for an answer. We not only have sought and found
what we felt was right, but we knock and press the point until
that door really is closed. And I do speak this from experience. This is a path that is to be
walked, not only in employment, but if we were selling a house,
buying a house, changing country, changing the place where we go
or place of worship, then it's not just praying, it is using
the means. Perhaps advertising the property
or looking at various estate agents. I remember over in Australia
when we bought the last house that we had there, we were in
rental accommodation, And we gave to the estate agent a whole
list, 10 points or so, of the things that we wanted in a house. And he laughed and he said, you'll
never ever get that. Well, not long after, the house
that was provided, just round the corner from where we were
staying, you could go through that list and tick off all of
those points. It was a real way of seeing how
the Lord provided our need and yet making the actual steps so
that we are not just praying, we are actively seeking. We're not trusting in what we
are doing, we are praying, we're asking the Lord's blessing, we're
knocking, but we're not trusting just in prayer, and abusing the
means and not using the means or using even common sense. We're putting those things together. And so it follows in all parts
of our lives. The Lord uses, uses his people,
uses Moses to bring the children of Israel up out of Egypt. He uses David to be as the conqueror
and the king that goes forth in front of his people and they
war, they fight. Sometimes the Lord did work.
He said to Josaphat, you will not need to fight in this battle. The Lord went before them. Sometimes
it was the case and sometimes it has been the case with us. One job I had, a job that I had
for 12 years and they tied it over to here. Though I asked,
I never found the job in a newspaper. I never applied. I never wrote
even one letter of application. It was all done through a friend
making that for me, just to go into work. And the work colleague
I was working with said to me, oh, he said, I nearly forgot.
He said, go over in your lunchtime across the road for a job interview.
I've arranged it for you. And that happened twice. And
then I was given the job. And so in that case, there was
no looking at papers. There was no eye part to knock
at all. It was all handed to me. But
like as it was with Israel for the most part, it was through
their armies, through fighting, through David, through the Lord
appearing for them in that way, and the conquest of Canaan. It
was all through the Lord blessing their armies and their fighting
and so we are not to turn away from means in any way at all
and this way God has set forth here in these three words to
ask and seek and not. Especially we think of this in
our soul's need for the mercy of the Lord on our souls. Where
it is a pressing case for the Lord to bless us and appear and
to save our souls, may it be an urgent, a pressing case, a
need that surpasses every other need. And we are asking the Lord
for his blessing, for his salvation, for assurance, for the pardon
and forgiveness of our sins to be put amongst His children,
and that is what we are seeking for, object of our first desire,
Jesus crucified to me. I can no denial takes as the
hymn writer when I plead for Jesus' sake. Our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, He came into this world to take the sins of His
people and to suffer and bleed and die on Calvary's tree. to pay the debt that they could
not pay, to redeem them from all evil and to bring them to
heaven. He says, I will for this be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do it for them, that all the
benefits and the blessings of Christ's death, the forgiveness
of sin, the changing of the heart, renewing of the will and to conform
to him is to be done by God and as in Ezekiel 36, he will be
inquired of that he would do those things for him. Every blessing
comes to us through Jesus' precious blood. They are bore blessings
and they are bestowed upon the Church of God. And every awakened
sinner will then ask for those things that come through the
Lord Jesus Christ. I want to look then secondly
at the assurance We have intermingled the assurance. He says, I say unto you, ask,
and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. Right through that verse is intermingled
the assurance that it will be successful method. But our Lord
doesn't just leave it there. He adds that to verse 10 and
really reinforces it again. For everyone, not just some,
but everyone, that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. And then he follows with the
illustration of a son asking of an earthly father bread. And
what is emphasized here is that what is asked is given. He says,
if he asks bread, will he give him a stone? The implication
is, if he asks bread, he will give him bread. For if he asks
a fish, will he give him for a fish a serpent? No, he will
give him a fish. And so what's emphasized is here
is what is being asked for is what is given, not something
different, unless it be better. We mentioned Paul asking that
the thorn in the flesh be taken away. That was not given, but
grace was given. And Paul's assessment afterwards
was that it was better that way. And that will be so. with the
people of God. They won't say, in effect, well
I asked this and he gave me something that was substandard, something
like a scorpion instead of an egg. No, it will be like the
Apostle Paul who said, therefore I will rather rejoice in my infirmity
when I am weak than am I strong. Grace is reigning. And so the
assurance is emphasised right through and then summarised,
if ye 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? May we be asking for spiritual
blessings, asking for the Holy Spirit, asking for those things
that He has the power to give, not just loaves and fishes, but
the things of eternal life, not just the things of this life,
but of that which is to come, and blessing with the faith of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So there is a, and I really emphasize
how much our Lord is giving assurance here in this path. Now, I know
we have in the Epistle of James, he reproves those that ask, and
they ask amiss, to consume it upon their lusts. And it is a
solemn thing if all we are asking for is things that we can, independent
of God, just enjoy this life, our lusts, our carnal pleasures,
and just really abuse the things of God. If we are rightly taught
of God and rightly reverence the Lord, has quickened us, and
the things of God are no trifling matter, and we seek real things,
eternal things, and seek in this life to live to God's honour
and glory, then as we would delight in the Lord, we will have our
desires fulfilled, as in Psalm 37, delight thyself in the Lord,
and he shall give you the desires of thine heart. Our desires,
our askings will be right askings when in the first place we desire
to do that which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord. Well,
may the word this morning be a word that gives us clear direction
in whatever path that we're walking in as to how we are to walk in. Not just prayer, but asking and
seeking. and knocking, walking in a way
that really gives a very clear message that what we're asking
for, we desire to be brought about and we'll do so with everything
in our being and in this way the Lord has proved and set before
us. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. and it shall be opened unto you. May the Lord add his blessing
and get to himself prayer and praise and thanksgiving and all
that is given from his hand. Amen.