May God be with us this morning.
We turn together to his word. And we turn again to the chapter
that we read earlier in the Gospel of Luke, turning to chapter 11.
The Gospel of Luke, chapter 11. And we read again verses 9 and
10. 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. Well, this part of the chapter
is our Lord's teaching on the subject of prayer. It opens with
what we call the Lord's Prayer. And of course that prayer was
given to the disciples as a pattern for prayer following their request. They asked, Lord, teach us to
pray. as John also taught his disciples. And the reason they asked that
question is because Jesus himself had just come from his own time
in prayer. Verse 1 tells us that as he was
praying in a certain place, when he ceased, or when he ended his
prayer, one of his disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray. And so we know that the Lord
Jesus Christ was a man of prayer, and his disciples desired also
to be people of prayer. And they asked that the Lord
would help them. And so the Word of God records
his teaching on the subject of prayer. It is wonderful to realize,
isn't it, that The Lord's people have the same access to God in
prayer that even the Son of God himself enjoyed. That the Lord
Jesus doesn't turn to his disciples and say, no, prayer is a special
blessing for me and not for you. That I, as the Son of God, have
access to God the Father in a way that you don't and that you can
never have. Of course, there's a sense in
which we can never have the relationship with God that Jesus had, being
the Son of God. But the Lord teaches us that
we can come to prayer just like he did. And we draw near to our
Heavenly Father just like he did as well. And the Word of
God encourages us in so many places to come and to pray. to a God in heaven. The Psalms
are full of exhortations to seek the Lord and to lay our concerns
before him. And the Lord himself here gives
us that same instruction. You remember the account of the
prophet Elijah, how when he was fleeing from Jezebel and makes
his long journey to Mount Sinai, And God appears to him there
on Mount Sinai and he says, what doest thou hear, Elijah? And Elijah opens his heart and
he explains his concerns and pours out his sadness and his
disappointment, how he feels that he is the only one left,
how all the prophets have been killed and how even now his life
is sought. But isn't it wonderful to think
that God invites Elijah to pray. He gives him opportunity to pour
out his heart. And he hears him. And in fact
he asks the same question twice, and Elijah gives the same answer
twice. And then God wonderfully encourages
him with a still small voice and that reminder of the 7,000
who have not bowed the knee and the instructions of what to do
next. But there we can see again, the
Lord would have him pray. The Lord would have him tell
him his concerns. And so the word of God leads
us to prayer. And the Lord Jesus, the Son of
God himself, teaches us this in this passage, to ask, to seek,
and to knock. Well, we might ask, what is it
that we should pray for? What do we pray for? Well, of course, that is a question
that has no end, really. We could all, I'm sure, think
of many, many things that we pray for. We pray for God's blessing. We pray for his mercy. We pray
for forgiveness. We pray for his help, for his
strength. We pray for wisdom. We pray for guidance. We pray
for one another. And we pray in worship and in
lifting up his name. And so you might say, well, there's
so many elements and so many things that might be part of
your prayer. But we could summarize it here,
how the Lord really teaches us to pray for something needful,
something good. And it's interesting to note
that the Lord Jesus here, in speaking about prayer, gives
this illustration of the man coming and asking for bread. It gives that parable that we
read together of the friend who comes and says that my friend
has come in a journey and asks for three loaves of bread. It was food that he was asking
for. And then the other examples he
gives, when he speaks of someone asking a father for bread, or
asking for a fish, or asking for an egg, it's interesting
to note this is all food. It's all something that is necessary,
something that is good. Bread, fish, and an egg. They're not asking for Things
that they might just want to enjoy and things that they just
want to have for themselves. It's good things necessary things
and The Lord goes on in speaking about these good gifts in verse
13 if ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your
children if You know how to give what your children need what
will do them good then how much more our Heavenly Father knows
how to give that which is good to his children and will really
benefit them. And he goes on, as we'll see
in a moment, that the best gift is the Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, give the Holy
Spirit to them. that ask Him. And so when we
say, what are we praying for? Well, the Lord is directing us
to pray for that which is good, that which would benefit us,
that which would feed us, that which would bless us. Well, what is the good things
we can think of? Well, of course, for the sinner,
for that one who is guilty before God, that one who is condemned
under his law, surely that best thing is God's gracious gift
of salvation, to know their sins forgiven, to know the mercy of
God, to know his wonderful grace. Surely that best gift, that good
gift, is to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. To know that they have not earned
His blessing, to know that they could give no gifts that might
deserve His blessing, but God has given His Son for them. That God, in His eternal plan,
sent His only begotten Son into this world to die for them. And that God, by His gracious
Spirit, has come and shown them that though they are a sinner,
that Christ is a great Saviour to be set free. Isn't that the
best gift? that a sinner can receive. That
once they were blind and now they see. That once they were
dead and now they live. That once they were far off and
now they've been brought near. The good gift that in his grace
God gives to his people. But then his people as they go
on Christians amongst us here this morning, those good things
that we pray for, do we not pray for good food? Like as he gives
the examples of the fish and the bread and the egg, so as
Christians we should pray for those good things that would
feed the soul, that would strengthen us, that would encourage us,
that we might grow that we might be drawn nearer, closer to our
God. We do not ask for things that
we might be boasted in our own pride, or that would draw us
away from God. But rather, surely the believer
asks to be brought closer. And so we ask that the Lord would
bless us through his word when we read it and we would hear
his voice. We ask that he would help us in our prayers, that
we might truly draw near to him and enjoy the blessing of prayer. We ask that he would feed our
souls through the ministry of the gospel. We ask that we might
be helped in our daily walk and witness with him. We ask that
we might be helped to love and support and care for his people
as he does. We ask that we might be kept
faithful to him, that we might be not left to wander and to
sin. We ask that we might know his
peace and his presence. These are these good things that
would do our souls good, like this necessary food. Important for us sometimes, isn't
it, to analyze our requests, wonder what are we asking and
why are we asking? Is it a good gift from God that
we are praying for? And if we received it, would
we give thanks? Would we give thanks to God?
Would we be thankful for what he has done? Or would we take
the gift and take the blessing and forget all about the hand
of the giver? Because really it's for me and
for my enjoyment rather than for his glory. Or could we truly
turn and praise and thank the Lord and as it were give it back
to him in thanksgiving? You know, that gift of salvation,
that greatest of gifts. Do we not turn it back in thanksgiving
for what the Lord has done? And we must acknowledge it was
all of what he has done and his blessing and his grace. And so
it's a good gift for his glory. May the Lord give us discernment
and help in knowing whether we are praying rightly for these
things. And so, what do we pray for?
We pray for these good things. But then, let's come to the verse
itself, the simplicity of this verse. We can all learn, probably
most of you children have had this as a memory text, I expect,
verse 9. Ask and it shall be given you,
seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. It's very simple and the Lord
is really teaching us something about the simplicity of prayer. It's not that it's not deep and
it's not a great blessing, but it's simple. Ask. Anyone here, even some of the
very youngest here, know how to ask. You know how to ask for
something. You know how to go to someone
and ask. And when we ask for something,
it's normally because we need it. It's something we don't have. And so we go to someone who does
have it, and we ask that they would give it to us. We ask because we need it, and
we believe that they would give it. And so, the Lord tells us
that prayer is to ask. Because we don't have something.
We're lacking. But we know that God does. We
know that God has all things, and all things are in his hands,
and subject to his control, and that he is able to give. And
that in his goodness, he gives what we need. And so we ask. If someone comes, you go and
ask for something. You don't generally go with a
whole load of things and say, well, can I repay? Can I give
you this? Can I give you this in return?
You go to your mum or your dad and you ask for something. You
don't offer them some of your toys in return. You go to them
and you say, I need something. Could you give it to me? You
ask. And they, I'm sure, in their
kindness, will give what you need. And even the youngest here,
you know, even asking doesn't always involve saying anything.
I was thinking of the account of the man sick of the palsy,
you know, the account, I'm sure, Man was brought on his bed with
his four friends and they took him up to the roof and opened
the roof and laid him down in front of Jesus in front of the
crowd. And Jesus looked on the man and he said to him, thy sins
be forgiven thee. And the Pharisees, the scribes,
they murmured, they complained, and they said, who has authority
to forgive sins but God only? And Jesus says, yes, but you
may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins.
He said to the man, take up thy bed and walk. Nowhere in that
account do we ask anyone, do we see anyone asking. The man
didn't say anything. His friends didn't say anything.
But by their actions, they clearly were asking that the Lord would
bless this man, that he would heal him. And the Lord did, healed
him naturally and spiritually. So be encouraged that even asking
doesn't always involve a long thing to say, does it? And so
we come to the Lord, we can pray to the Lord. And we don't always
know how to say things. But you can just pour out your
heart in secret. And He knows. And He knows your
need. And He knows what concerns you
have. And He knows what would be best.
And just coming and telling and showing the problem. And asking
in that way that He would help, ask, we can all ask. And then the second word is to
seek. Why do we seek? Well again, we
seek things, we look for things because we need to find them. Sometimes we lose things in our
daily life and well, we might spend a couple of minutes looking
for it, but it's not that important and we just forget about it. But if you've lost something
really important, let's say you've lost your homework and it's got
to be handed in that morning, You're not going to just say,
well, it doesn't really matter. I'm not going to worry about
that. You're going to seek. You're going to turn the house
upside down because you need to find it. And you're going
to keep on looking until you do. That's what we have here.
It's seeking. It's keep looking. But why do
you seek? Because you need to find. You need to find. And I don't
need to teach any of you here how to seek. You don't need to
have a lesson on seeking and how to look. If you've lost something
and you need to find it, you don't need someone to sit you
down to teach you how to look for it. You're going to automatically
look. You'll do it. And you won't then,
when you have found it, Go on about how you spent looking and
what you did when you were looking. You will be thankful that you
found what you had lost. And the Lord says, seek and you
shall find. You see there's something very
important that we all need. Very important. We all need the
Lord's mercy. We all need our sins forgiven. And to seek is to recognize that
need, is to realize what you need, and to ask the Lord, to
seek the Lord to give you what you don't have. To seek. If you truly know your need,
if you truly have that, concern this morning. You don't need
me to explain what to do. You need to come to this God
who has promised that those who seek shall find. And then the third word is knock. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Well, again, I don't need to teach you how to knock. If I told you to knock on a door,
you would know what to do. You would knock. You would knock
on that door. And why do you knock on a door? Why do you knock on the door?
You knock on the door hoping that someone on the other side
will open it. You don't knock on the door because you enjoy
knocking or because you're practicing knocking. You knock on the door
because you want somebody to open it so that you can come
in. And then when they do, you go
in. That was your intention. That's
what you wanted to do. The Lord says, knock. Knock because
you need what's on the other side. Knock because the Lord
in his grace and mercy does open to those who knock. Knock, because
there you will find what the Lord will bless us with. Knock. But the youngest here can knock,
or can seek, and can ask. And so can you see that the words
that the Lord Jesus is using, it's very simple. And it's reminding
us that even the very youngest, the very simplest, can understand
and can do. what the Lord is teaching, to
ask and to seek and to knock. And he surrounds this word with
encouragement. The word itself gives us a promise
that if you ask, it will be given, that if you seek, you shall find,
that if you knock, it shall be opened. And remember, this is
the word of God who never lies and who always keeps his promise. But he also surrounds the word
with encouragements. He gives the parable from verse
five of the friend who goes, asking for three loaves. And
he says that he will rise, though he will not rise and give him
because he's a friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise
and give him as many as he needed. He will give. Even if his motive
isn't quite right, he will give. And then he comes to the promise
that follows, verse 9. Everyone that asketh receiveth,
he that seeketh findeth. To him that knocketh it shall
be opened. There's a promise of God. And then we have the
pictures given to us in the following verses, that if you ask of bread,
would a father give a stone? That if you asked a fish, would
you give a serpent? If you asked an egg, would you
give a scorpion? And so with the parable, and
with the promise, and with the pictures, he is teaching the
same thing. That the Lord in his goodness
gives the best gifts to those who ask, and seek, and knock. And these are the words from
the mouth of the Holy Son of God who cannot lie. But there might be some this
morning who are finding that you are being hindered in your
prayer. There are those things that might
be stopping you from praying, from asking, Well, what might
stop us or hinder us? Well, is your sin hindering your
prayers? Your sin. In the sense that you
quite rightly acknowledge your sin and acknowledge your unholiness
in the presence of a holy God. And if prayer is to come into
the presence of a holy God, then surely it isn't right to pray. Surely it's not right to come
to a God. Surely it's not right to ask
anything of this God. For as a sinner, we must be cast
out of his presence. God would be just in condemning
me. God would be quite just in refusing
my cry. And so, as a sinner, I fear I
cannot pray, for God will not hear me. Does your sin stop you
from prayer? The word of God tells us, in
contrast, that we are to come boldly to the throne of grace. Not just we are to come to prayer,
but we're to come boldly the sense of confidence. You think,
well, this seems to be contrary. How is it possible that we could
come boldly to the throne of grace? Well, because the text
tells us, because there is a great high priest. Because he ever
lives to make intercession, therefore we can come boldly to a throne
of grace. And the high priest he is speaking
of is Jesus Christ. This is our grounds for prayer. This is the name that we plead. This is why we would generally
close our prayers with, in Jesus' name or for Jesus' sake, because
we acknowledge that we can only come to God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ, remember, is
the savior of sinners. He washes their sins away. He clothes them in His holy righteousness. He represents them in glory. He speaks on their behalf. And so His people, through Christ,
stand before God as washed of their sin and clothed in righteousness. And so as they pray, as the hymn
puts it, it's Him that is seen instead of them. when they approach
to God. That God sees in His Son, Jesus
Christ, His people, and as they approach to Him in prayer, He
looks on His Son and is well pleased for His sake. And so there is access in prayer.
Yes, your sin does forbid entrance to God. but through Christ there
is access. You've got that wonderfully pictured
in the Old Testament. The most holy place in the tabernacle
was blocked, was guarded with the veil. And no one can enter
in, no one can come through that veil. Embroidered on the veil
is the cherubims. God's holiness. God's presence
is there at the Ark of the Covenant, at the mercy seat. And no one
can come in. But the high priest, the representative
of his people, the one who stands for them, the one who bears their
names on the 12 stones on his breastplate, he can come in.
Ah, so they have a representative. They have a high priest. who
goes in and in him every single one of the tribe is represented.
Every single one of the camp enters in for the high priest.
But you know the high priest can't just wander into the most
holy place. He enters in once a year, not
without blood. He goes in with the blood of
the sacrifice he goes in with that which would be for the cleansing
of the sins of the people and the high priest then goes in
with the blood for the sins of the people and there they are
represented in the presence of God as washed and forgiven the
day of atonement the day of forgiveness. And so Christ, the great high
priest, enters into glory on the behalf of his people with
his own blood to cleanse them and with his own perfect holiness
to clothe them in righteousness. And so we pray for Jesus' sake. Does sin hinder you? Of course
sin hinders you. Of course sin separates you from
God. But the Savior, Jesus Christ,
is the way that we come. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father.
No one. No one here can come unto the
Father but by me. But by me, through me. there
is access. And so does sin hinder you in
the simplicity of this way of asking and seeking and knocking?
I'll see the Savior. We might be hindered by unbelief. Can God? Does God? Will God? Is God able to hear
me? And is God able to answer me? If He is able, will He? Would He hear my prayer? And we can be plagued with this
unbelief, questioning whether the Lord is able and whether
His promise really stands. Is He able? Think of our Lord,
is he able? Our Lord who spoke the world's
interbeing on the days of creation, is he able? Our Lord who stilled
the storm with a word, is he able? Our Lord who fed the five
thousand with the loaves and the fishes, is He able? Our Lord
who raised Lazarus from the dead, or healed the leper, or opened
the eyes of the blind, is He able? Our Lord, who could take
Elijah the prophet and could feed him with the ravens, or
could be with the three Hebrews in the fire that they didn't
burn, or could protect Daniel in the lion's den, or could open
the Red Sea for the children of Israel, and you can go on
and on. Is he not able? Is your need
too great for him? You might say, well, but my soul,
I know what a sinner I am, and I only know the bitterness of
my own soul. Is he able? He, who could pardon the thief,
who had lived a life of sin and was but moments from his death?
He who could take Zacchaeus, the tax collector, from the tree
and bring salvation to his house? He who could cleanse Mary Magdalene
of her seven devils? He who could save the eunuch
on his journey from Jerusalem back home to Ethiopia? He who could forgive in his mercy
Peter who denied him three times? Is he not able? He's not a gracious
God? A God who is abundant in mercy? Oh, isn't it our unbelief rather
than His lack of ability? Isn't it our doubts rather than
any lack in His grace? He is able and He is promised. Doesn't he speak a promise here?
Everyone that asketh receiveth, he that seeketh findeth, to him
that knocketh it shall be opened. Can we not take that as a promise?
And say, Lord thou hast said. This word is true and stands
certain. One other thought that might
delay or might hinder our prayer, rather, and that is delay in
answer. A delay in answer. And there
might be some here this morning and they say, well, I have tried.
I have tried, but he didn't answer. I tried to pray, I tried to do
what was done here, to ask and to seek and the not, but there
was no response. There was no answer. And so I give up. And so I must conclude that this
word is wrong. I must conclude that the Lord
will not hear me or has not heard me. And so delay stops us praying. What did the Lord teach us later
on in this gospel in Luke chapter 18? There was in a city a judge. And that judge, he feared not
God, neither regarded man. There was his widow in that city.
And she came and she said, 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 this, because
this woman troubleth me, I will avenge her. lest by her continual
coming she weary me. Hear what the unjust judge saith.
Shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night
unto him? Though he bear long with them,
I tell thee, he will avenge them speedily. This woman in this
parable, she kept coming. The Lord says they cry day and
night She's come every day. It implies she's come every night. And she's kept on asking and
she's been turned away and turned away and turned away. But the
problem was still there. The issue was still there. The
need that only the judge could answer was still there. And so
she kept knocking. And he bears long with them.
And this morning you might feel the Lord is bearing long with
me. Keep knocking. Keep coming like the woman. Keep
asking. Because even an unjust judge
will eventually be moved by her continual knocking. How much
more shall God avenge his own elect? How much more he who is
just and good will give a good gift to them that ask him? And so does delay discourage
you and stop asking? Oh, the Lord would have you keep
knocking because we have a promise. He will avenge them which cry
day and night to him. Well, just lastly, what about
the answer? The promise that we're given.
Ask, it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find, knock
and it shall be opened unto you. And we come to 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? He will give what his people
need. And here is particular reference
to the Holy Spirit. And surely here is found what
the Christian needs, that work of the Holy Spirit. Now we could
preach many, many sermons on the work and the person of the
Holy Spirit. But we know that the Holy Spirit
is the giver of life. John chapter 3 teaches us in
that conversation through our Lord and the Nicodemus. You must be born again. The spirit
bloweth where it listeth, or it blows where it will. And you
hear the sound, or the wind rather, you hear the sound thereof and
cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is everyone
that is born of the spirit. There's a lot of wind outside
today, and you can see the movement of the trees, you can see the
effect of the wind, but you can't see the wind. Neither can you
control the wind. None of us command the wind,
none of us can stop the wind. In that way, Jesus says that
the Holy Spirit, like the wind, it's sovereign. We cannot perceive,
we cannot see him, and we certainly cannot command him or demand
anything of the Spirit, yet we see the effect, we see his work.
in the hearts of his people. He gives life, that new birth. So the Holy Spirit is sovereign
in his work in this new birth. We know that the Holy Spirit
helps his people in prayer. We read of the Spirit making
intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered. And so how
we prove the help of the Holy Spirit when we pray. We know that the Holy Spirit
gives boldness to God's people. In the book of Acts we read of
the apostles following the arrest of Peter and James and they go
back to the company and there they pray for boldness, having
just been persecuted for their faith. And we read that the Holy
Spirit came on them And they spoke the word with boldness. The Spirit gives boldness to
his people in their witness. And we know that principally
the Holy Spirit speaks of Christ. Jesus taught his disciples in
the upper room that the Holy Spirit would speak of him, that
would lead them to him. And this is the primary work
of the Holy Spirit. He leads us to Christ. He brings us to
his feet. Opens our eyes to his blessedness.
Shows us his beauty, his suitability. Shows us his love. The Spirit
opens the heart of the believer to see and to lay hold of the
Savior. And it's the best gift. The best
gift. But you see, it's a sovereign
gift. Like the wind blowing where it will. And yet here we have
the promise. He will give the Holy Spirit
to them that ask Him. So I believe what we have here,
if we put these things together, is the reminder that the work
of God in the hearts of His people is sovereign. It is His work
and He moves as His will. But here we have that we should
pray for it. We should plead with our Heavenly
Father that he would send forth the Spirit amongst his people
and to bless sinners with new life. And that we should pray
that he would, by the Spirit, help his people in their life
as a Christian. That he would walk with them
and help them and encourage them and give them boldness and speak
to them and all of these things. And he will give the Holy Spirit
to them that ask him. And we don't know his sovereign
will and purpose. But isn't it our longing that the Lord would
stir us up first of all to pray for souls, and then that we might
see his work in the souls of one another? To the glory of
God, wouldn't this be the best gift? Oh, to see that work of
reviving power. To know that wind of the Spirit
again. To know those days of refreshing
of the presence of the Lord. To know souls being drawn. To
know souls confessing their need. And then many professing the
suitability of the Saviour that they have found. What refreshing
days. What good days. He gives a good
gift to them that ask. Ask, and it shall be given you
three times. So often, three is an emphasis,
isn't it? We say something three times,
we mean it, it's an emphasis. We have the same three things,
ask, seek, and knock, because we have a promise of an answer. Jesus, in walking out of the
town of Jericho, heard the cries of a man called Bartimaeus, a
blind man sitting at the roadside, shouting out that he would have
mercy on him. And Jesus calls him and says,
what wilt thou that I should do unto you? What is your request? What will you ask? Well, we know
what Bartimaeus asked for. He asked for his sight. What wilt thou? What is your
request? What do we ask? Those good things,
those things that would do us good, and those things that would
be for his glory, that we have his promise. Ask and you shall
receive. Seek and you shall find. And
knock and it shall be opened. Well, may God bless the truth
of his word to us this morning. Amen.