Okay, we're in Matthew chapter
7 this morning. Matthew chapter 7. Now, Thursday night we covered
Matthew 7 verses 1-12. Now most of us have heard these
passages preached from individually, separate from one another. And
I was blessed in my heart a week or two ago as I began to look
at those first twelve verses together. And so I think it's
helped me to understand the key to understand the epistle of
James. But we saw when we looked at this in the first five verses
that the Lord is teaching us to deal with one another in mercy
rather than in a condemning spirit. And we saw from James chapter
4 that when When we speak evil of brethren, we speak evil of
the law, particularly of our lawgiver. And we judge our brethren,
we judge the law, particularly our lawgiver. It's, in essence,
as if we're saying we're able to discern the thoughts and intents
of the heart instead of God, in that we're able to pluck out
the beam out of our brother's eye rather than trusting God
to do it. He's able. He saves. We don't
do that. And so he alone is able to make
brethren stand. And so we know that Christ bore
the sin of his people in his own body and that the judgment
of God fell on Christ and the mercy that we didn't deserve
fell on those that he represented. And so he's able to make his
people stand, to grow them by his grace and in knowledge of
him and to increase them in fruits of righteousness. And those who
have tasted this grace, to like to be gracious, to like to be
merciful, to wait on the Lord. It's not always easy to wait
on the Lord. That's what Paul, James is dealing with in the
book. An unbridled tongue wants to speak evil of a brother. and wants to condemn him and
wants to say what he don't know and what he don't understand
and how we have to wait on the Lord to teach. We have one message. We're supposed
to hold forth the word of life. And God promises he's going to
raise up. He's going to bless through that message. And that's
what we do. And then we saw that this self-exalting hypocritical
judgment is removed out of the believer's eye When the Spirit
of God lifts our eyes to Christ, that's how this beam is removed.
When we go and we read a text like Romans 8.33, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies.
Who is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
ever lives to make intercession for us. And when we have the
light of Christ, when our heart's been restored and refreshed and
He's created within us a right spirit, then we can sing psalms
of grace to our brethren and restore them in the spirit of
meekness with the promises of our Redeemer rather than in a
harsh, harsh, condemning manner. And then we come to verse 6. Give not that which is holy unto
the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they
trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.
Now if I would have been preaching from notes on Thursday night,
I would have given you the common interpretation of this verse.
And when you don't preach from notes, sometimes you forget things
that you ordinarily would include. And that was one of the things
that I would have included, just so when you or other folks heard
this, you wouldn't think I fell off my rocker. But what I wanted
to show you was, is we looked at this and applied it to the
old fleshly, self-righteous nature that we still have within us.
And any time that we exalt ourselves in self-righteousness and think
we can pick out the sin in somebody and take the beam out of their
own eye, that's the self-righteous man. Paul said, if you bite and
devour, take heed that you be not consumed one of another.
This I say, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the
lusts of the flesh. Rather than casting the pearls
like you would a stone, we carefully put the pearls on a brother's
neck. and restore him with these things.
And then, as James dealt with and the Lord deals with here,
and if you lack wisdom, ask Him. Ask God. He'll give you the wisdom. He's going to give you Christ
your wisdom. He's going to point you to Christ and refresh you
in Him. I'd encourage you to listen to that message. We titled
it, Judgment of Swine, Mercy of Brethren. But I want to go
over with you this morning, before we move on, the more common,
what we hear from this text. But having instructed us to not
set up ourselves in judgment against others, the Lord also
teaches us to use wisdom in dealing with others. There's a time to
work with men in patience, and there's a time to dust off our
feet and be a witness against them, that be a witness against
them. This is what the Lord said in Matthew 10. If you look there,
Matthew 10 verse 12. He said, when you come into a
house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let
your peace come upon it. But if it be not worthy, let
your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive
you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house
or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto
you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
in the day of judgment than for that city. We saw Paul several
times in Acts so far. I'll read you this. Acts 18.6
says, When they opposed themselves in blasphemy, he shook his raiment,
and he said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am
clean. Henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. Always be eager
to confess Christ to anybody who will listen. But if you speak
to somebody about this glorious good news of our Redeemer and
they don't want to hear what God has revealed, leave them
alone. Leave them alone. Now, verses
7 through 11 is what I want to get into today, what I want to
look at this morning. And again, we covered this Thursday
night, but today I'm just going to take it separately and go
through this. Verse 7, 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. I like how James starts the letter. He says, if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God. Does anybody here lack wisdom? Anybody here that needs some
wisdom from God? Anytime a believer is brought
to truly ask God, to truly seek, to truly knock, our Lord is reminding
us again, showing us again, We need wisdom. If we've truly come
to Him and asked Him, it's because He's made us to know we need
wisdom, and there's one place to get it, and that's Christ
our wisdom. But faith believes God. Do you
believe this promise? Do you believe this promise of
our Lord Jesus Christ? Ask, He says, and it shall be
given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened unto you. This is a promise that's sure
to all believers. It's sure to all believers. When
James said that, he said, he gives to all liberally and upbraideth
not. He says, but let the man ask
in faith, nothing wavering. The Lord has given us here some
great reasons to believe Him, to ask in faith. That's what
I want to look at here this morning. He told us in another place,
all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you
shall receive. Now listen to the simple reasoning
that he gives us here in these next few verses. Verse 9. What
man is there of you whom if his son asks bread, will he give
him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he
give him a serpent? Sinful, fallen, depraved sinners
are naturally predisposed to give good things to their children.
simply because they're your children, my children. Verse 11, 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? Here's the first point. How much
more shall your Father? Just think about that. your Father. Without us asking, He gave His
only begotten Son to lay down His life for us. Without us asking,
when we were at enmity with Him and hated Him. If you're a believer,
it's because Christ Jesus, the Son of God, is your everlasting
Father. That's what He's called in Isaiah
9, the everlasting Father. You know, the father of the family
is the legal representative of the family. Adam was the first
father, and when Adam sinned against God, all whom he represented
sinned against God and died spiritually in Adam. But the everlasting
father, Christ, the second Adam, all whom he represented, he made
righteous. The father of the family is the
one of whom you're born. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot
sin because he's born of God. Born of the everlasting Father. That means he will be your father.
He has always been your father and he will always be your father.
It's from the everlasting father that we receive the inheritance.
A father gives an inheritance. It's his to give. He reserves
it for his children. That's how that treasure is reserved
in heaven. Listen to this in Hebrews 3.5.
Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant for
a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. But
Christ as a son over his own house. Now think about that.
I am my earthly father's son. And I'm a son over my own house. My father is the father of my
children. And I'm the father of my children. And so it is with God the Father
and Christ Jesus our everlasting Father. Whose house are we if we hold
fast the confidence in the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end?
Do you get what I'm saying? We have God the Father. And we
have Christ Jesus, our representative, who's the everlasting Father.
And as a son to His Father, over His own house, He's a Father
unto us, even as God the Father is a Father unto us. I point
that out to you because that's assurance, brethren. That's who
this Father is that we're talking about. This is God our Father. And His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is our everlasting Father. He says, how much more shall
your father, here's the second thing, which is in heaven, which
is in heaven. Your father in heaven means he's
holy. Whatever he does is going to
be right, it's going to be good, it's going to be for his honor,
and it's going to be for your good. if you're His son, His
daughter. It means our Heavenly Father
is all-knowing. He knows what's best for His
children. Your Father knoweth what things
you have need of before you ask Him, the Lord said. It means
He's all-powerful to give as He says He will. He's able to
give, He's able to raise up, even from the dead. Is it an
erring brother for whom we pray? God is able to make him stand. Is it personal provisions to
aid in the work of the gospel? God is able to make all grace
abound toward you that ye always having sufficiency in all things
may abound to every good work. You see, He's able. Then here's
the third thing. How much more shall your heavenly
Father, which is in heaven, give good things? I can't pass this
word, give. I had to stop on that one. Give.
We don't earn it. We can't earn His favor. We can't
earn His gifts. A gift's free. We can't bargain
with Him for these gifts. Fear not, little flock, for it
is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Salvation's
free. All spiritual blessings in Christ
are free. They're of His grace to give
to whomsoever He will. They're a gift. But secondly,
look at this, and He gives good things. You ever have your children
keep asking you and keep asking you and keep asking you, And
you didn't give it to them the first time they asked you because
it's not something good for them. It's not something they need.
But eventually they just wear you down and you give it to them.
Not this father. Not this father. If it's bad
for you, if it's going to cause you harm, he's not going to give
it. Listen to what Spurgeon said.
We, although ourselves evil, correct our children's blunders
in their request to us, and much more will our all-wise and good
Heavenly Father amend His bestowals the errors of our beseechings. He will give the good which we
did not ask, and withhold the ill which we so unwisely requested. We know not what we should pray
for as we ought, but He knows how to give as becometh His perfection. And that's what He'll give. The chief good thing that our
Father gives is the Holy Spirit. That's how it's recorded in Luke.
How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him? We looked at this Thursday. If
you want to look over at James chapter 5. James chapter 5, in
verse 14. And when he says, is any sick
among you? Let him call for the elders of
the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord. Do you remember how we looked
at that Thursday? This won't make as much sense if you weren't
here and heard it, but... We look at this all in context
throughout the letter of James when he's talking about brothers
who are erring and who are weak in the faith and who are unbelieving
and how we are struggling against that self-righteous man and we're
afflicted by that. And he said, ask God. And then
as a brother is sick, is he fallen? Is he erred? And this is a word to the pastors,
to the elders. Let him call for the elders.
If they come in that stern, condemning spirit, he won't call for them. One, he'd be afraid to call for
them. But this is a word. Don't come that way to him. Pray
over him. It means go into your closet,
once you've heard what he's dealing with, go into your closet and
pray for him. Ask God for wisdom. It goes back to the very first
chapter. It goes to what our Lord's teaching us here. Ask
God for wisdom. And it says here, anointing him
with oil in the name of the Lord. Is that literally, if we're going
to take the rest of it literally, It applies to sick brethren,
but sin sick brethren, erring brethren. Are you really going
to go in there and sprinkle oil on him? No. Praying for him in
the name of the Lord is asking God to anoint him with the Holy
Spirit, with the oil of gladness. to make Him stand, to show Him
Christ, to free Him, to strengthen Him, to give Him the bread of
life, to take away the infirmity of that sinful flesh and to make
Him behold Christ our Lord. That's anointing Him with oil.
That's what we're asking God to do when we pray, is to anoint
Him with oil. Let me give you some scripture
on that. When a believer prays like this, you remember our Lord
Jesus Christ in Psalm 45, 7, it says, Thou lovest righteousness
and hatest wickedness, therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee
with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. What's he talking
about? In Acts 10, 38, it says, God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. And He said to us, He told His
apostles before He went to the cross, He said, I'll pray the
Father, and He shall give you another comforter that He may
abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the
world can't receive because it doesn't see Him, neither knows
Him, but you know Him, He told His apostles, you know Him, for
He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. And then in John 16,
13, He says, and when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He
will guide you into all truth, for He won't speak of Himself,
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak." Where?
In the heart, in the inner man. He'll speak and He'll show you
things to come. That's when James says, the prayer
of faith heals the man. God will raise him up. And if
he sinned, God will forgive him. When we get into this study of
James and we see the context, it'll make sense. Why would James
say, well, if a brother's sick and he sinned, what does that
mean? When's the last time you got
the flu and sinned? He's talking about this This
erring from the truth, that's how the book ends. James ends
the book. If one correct a brother, he
recovers a multitude of sin. Love does that, not condemning
judgment. Love, praying, interceding as
Christ, that's what Christ did. And he says, and I'll pray the
Father and He'll give you another comforter and He'll guide you
into all truth, into the glorious promises of our Redeemer. We
saw last time when we looked here, the Lord said, your Heavenly
Father knows you have need of those lesser things. He said,
don't seek those. Those are things now He switched
over and started talking about seeking those things. He said,
your Father knows you have need of those things, but seek ye
first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And when you
ask God for these things that matter, I understand a worldly
man won't understand what I'm talking about. He don't ask God
for these things. But a spiritual man does. This is what I need.
I need to know Christ. I need to have His presence with
me. I need to be restored by Him, by His fellowship in my
heart. That's what I need. But when
He gives us those lesser things, they may or may not bring gladness
to us. If He heals us from physical
sickness, He may or He may not heal us from physical sickness.
But if He does, we're going to die. We're going to die soon. But, if we don't recover from
the sickness, if we don't have the earthly things, when He gives
when He anoints us with the Holy Spirit and gives us a fresh view
of Christ and guides us into the truth of Christ, the Holy
Spirit whispers into our soul. And the Holy Spirit whispers,
your heavenly Father and your everlasting Father says to you,
all things are yours. Your brethren are yours. The
world is yours. Life is yours. Death is yours. All things present are yours.
All things to come are yours. All are yours. And you are Christ,
and Christ is God's. And I'll tell you what happens
then. When He does that, whatever mountain is standing in your
way, might as well be a molehill. You can just step right over
it. Because you've got Christ. And it don't matter if He gives
the temporal thing, because He's greater than that thing. And
that's what He's teaching us. That's what He teaches us continually. He's weaning us from being a
baby and wanting a bottle and wanting those carnal trinkets
to the food from heaven. And then when He raises us up
this way, He's able to make us stand. At first we totter and
we teeter and we stumble. But by His grace, by Him continually
doing this, He strengthens our legs of faith so we can stand,
so we can walk a little more steady. And He's continually
growing us so that we're not tossed here and there and here
and there. One thing Elihu said to Job that was good, really
good. He said, when He giveth quietness,
who then can make trouble? Isn't that right? When he gives
quietness, let the world rage. Let the mountain be as high as
it can be. He makes it flat. He brings down
the high things. You might be low, he brings you
up. You might be out of the way, he brings you back in the way.
He makes the crooked places straight. Now, we end where we begin. Now
back to that verse again, verse 11. How much more shall your
Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask
Him? Now do you have any reason to
doubt our Lord? We have no reason to doubt Him,
do we? We have any reason to doubt our heavenly Father? We can come to Him boldly in
full assurance of faith, believing Him. Do we? Do we believe Him? Well, then
look at verse 7. Ask, 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 open.