May I please God to bless us
together this evening as we continue our thoughts in the Sermon on
the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 7 and this evening we'll
read verses 7 and 8. The seventh chapter of the Gospel
of Matthew reading 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 every one that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. Surely these verses are exceedingly
encouraging to us to realize here The Lord himself spoke such
glorious words. And they apply, of course, to
all types, all colors, all languages, rich and poor. We might say great
sinners and small sinners, but all are sinners. But it has a
wonderful application to all. None are exempted. And we should
be, therefore, really thankful tonight that we have such a clear
testimony from our Saviour to encourage us in prayer. It is really prayer that is the
life of our soul. Without prayer there's no indication
that we are spiritually alive. And yet we need that indicting
by the Holy Spirit to ask for those things which are right
and which are in accordance with His will and purpose because
the Apostle James in his short epistle reminds us how we should
ask and how we should not ask and how we should we ask wrongly
therefore we will not receive and he tells us in the fourth
chapter He says, ye lust and have not, ye kill and desire
to have and cannot obtain, ye fight and war, yet ye have not
because ye ask not. So you might think, well, the
answer is quite easy. We have to ask. But what has
he gone to say? Ye ask and receive not because
ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts. And so although we have this
very glorious invitation to come to our God, yet as we may think
upon it and recognize what a glorious word it is, yet as we do come
in prayer, to come asking rightly, The right way is indeed for the
honour and glory of our God. We might put God first in our
petitions. We might indeed desire that.
You remember earlier on in this sermon, the Lord gave his disciples
and the multitudes the wonderful example of how to pray. And it was like this, our Father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And he goes on to
say, thy will be done. And how needful it is, therefore,
that as we come to God in this way asking, that we may be conscious
that as we come we enter in to the presence of Almighty God,
the God who rules on high, the God who controls our lives, the
God who controls our minds and makes everything that we are
involved with. and that God has made ourselves.
And so therefore, may we have that grace to come in a right
way and ask for those things which are in accordance with
His will. We may ask in this way that our
will may be made conformable to His will. Surely that should
be our desire, should it not? that our will might be, as it
were, swallowed up in the will of God. Sometimes we're perhaps
over-concerned about our lives, over-concerned about what we
will do and what we shall say. And yet, what a blessing if we're
concerned as to what God would have us to do. and what God will
have us to say because if the Lord graciously then hears such
prayers the result will be answers and in those answers the Lord's
name will be lifted up and we'll be encouraged and we'll be strengthened
and we'll rejoice to know that we come to the great God How
often I remember those words of Daniel when he came and said,
there is a God in heaven. And that was before the king.
He wasn't ashamed of his religion, was he? He was able to tell him
there is a God in heaven and there is today for you and me. What a mercy it is to know that. And therefore, to come in a right
way, and the other right way, of course, is to come in faith. And we can only come in faith,
as God gives us faith, and we only come then if we believe
that we are coming to God, and that we're coming to a God who
does hear and does answer. We should not come in that evil
way of doubting The devil will always try and make you and me
doubt. And perhaps sometimes that's
right when we ask in a wrong way. But if we come humbly, if
we come through His mercy, through His grace, through His enlivening
of our soul, desiring for the blessing of God to rest upon
us, that our souls may be enlarged, and that through that enlargement
the name of our God be honoured and glorified. These are those
things which will truly be answered And so we have these three statements,
ask, seek, and knock. Three statements. And how necessary
in our little lives, first of all, we come to God asking, asking. And how needful it is that we
do ask. And in the Old Testament, wonderful
truths we have. So often in the Old Testament
and the prophecy of Ezekiel. Ezekiel who was indeed a man
of God. He tells us in the 36th chapter
of his prophecy, and we can read in the 37th verse, words which
are really familiar, and they should be, because I often quote
them. Thus saith the Lord God. This is God speaking, not man.
Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of. by the house of Israel to do
it for them. He will be inquired, we are to
pray, we are to ask. And he says then, I will increase
them with men like a flock, as the holy flock, as the flock
of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts. So shall the waste cities be
filled with flocks of men, and they shall know that I am the
Lord." We still come to the same God today that Ezekiel came to.
And we know the words that God gave Ezekiel were so necessary
and so appropriate for the age in which he lived. With that
situation there with Judah gone down into Babylon, far off from
Jerusalem, Desolate place, no temple to worship in, and yet,
you see, here in that place was the encouragement. You may remember
also that we're able to read the next chapter about the Valley
of the Dry Bones. And there was that need to prophesy. There was that need to preach.
There was that need to desire that the blessing of the Lord
would attend the preaching of the word. And so we need it today.
So we have many encouragements to ask. And as we read that chapter
in Daniel, how many times Daniel came and asked of his God, didn't
he? He prayed to his God. Did God
turn him away? God heard. God answered. God delivered him. Ask, says
the Lord. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. We are to come and we are to
seek. And that means to be looking,
to be desiring. The Lord would indeed remember
us for that favour that he bestows upon his people. We might be
seeking for the blessing of the Lord. And the indications here
are, surely, that it's not in a proud way. We come to our God
trembling, perhaps. That's a good thing. You don't
come trembling. You can still come boldly. But
it still means you come trembling before Almighty God, realizing
what sinners we are, and yet how gracious the Lord is to even
listen to our prayers. And we are to come and to seek
Him in a time when He may be found. Yes, what a good thing
it is when we're able to come in that way, in a time when He
may be found, and to knock at Mercy's door. Yes, and you know
sometimes we need to knock and we might need to come and knock
again. And continual knocking. Remember that was that case of
that woman that came to the door and kept on knocking. Eventually
the husband got up and gave her what she wanted. Sometimes we
need gracious perseverance to press on and to knock and to
knock again. The Lord hears, but he may not
always answer our knocking immediately. That doesn't mean to say we're
not to knock. We are to knock. We're not to
give up. knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Yes, it will be. In God's time,
in God's way, it'll be answered. The Lord will answer the door.
He will open it. And what a mercy then when perhaps
we knock because the Lord's knocked at our heart. Sometimes we perhaps
forget to realize how gracious our God is. And the Apostle John,
when he was on the Isle of Patmos, the Lord spoke to him there.
We read these words in the third chapter and the 20th verse, where
we have the words of the Lord. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. If any man hear my voice, and
open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and
he with me." That's a wonderful, glorious gospel invitation, isn't
it? Virtuously, that means perhaps
that we are to knock and then the Lord knocks. We might be
surprised. He speaks. invites us to come
in. Come into the banqueting house
and there we find his great and glorious love displayed. So we have these words here for
everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth. and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened." Now, there are perhaps particular times when these things
are so appropriate and so necessary in our little lives. And we're
so thankful, are we not? that we have a mention of these
in the Psalms where David tells us, or Asaph actually tells us
on this occasion. And this is what he says in the
50th Psalm and the 15th verse. And call upon me in the day of
trouble. What's going to happen? Is the
Lord going to ignore us? What does he say? Call upon me.
in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt
glorify me. And that's the result, isn't
it? When the Lord comes and hears our prayers, poor and sinful
as we are, the Lord answers. Must result, must it not, in
the desire and the actual glorifying the name of our God. Also, we read in the 87th psalm,
again, very simple words. And in the last verse, the 87th
psalm, we read, sorry, the 86th psalm, the seventh verse, 86th
psalm, the seventh verse. And in the day of my trouble,
I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. David there,
confidence in his God. And my friends, what a blessing
it is when the Lord gives us true fervent prayer, true pleading
the name of the Savior, pleading for his mercy, that he will hear
and answer our prayers. And we can, of course, bring
these words to our Savior. And we can say, Lord, thou hast
said For every man that asketh receiveth, and I have asked,
and if I have asked wrongly, show me how to ask. Everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. You may remember Jonah. Jonah prayed, didn't he? It took
him a long time to get there, but he got there in the end,
and he prayed from his heart. And that's the great blessing,
if you and I are favored to do, to come and to pray from our
heart. And we read this in the second
chapter in Jonah. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord
his God, between three days and three
nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's
belly and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord
and he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I and thou heardest
my voice. That's the testimony of Jonah.
Well, we know Jonah ran away, don't we? What a mercy if we
have the same testimony that Jonah had and are able to testify,
yes, the Lord did hear, the Lord did answer our petitions. And then perhaps, just finally,
in the epistle of John, and the first epistle in the fifth chapter
and the God's servant John tells us this as he speaks he says
and and this is the confidence that we have in him humble confidence
may we have it confidence in him that if we ask anything according
to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth
us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desire of Him." That's the Apostle John. Well, then tonight,
may we bless God that we have such words. from the Saviour,
from His own lips, directing us so very wonderfully in the
way that we should come, how we should ask, and what we should
say. And so, an eighth verse in this seventh chapter of Matthew
are indeed precious words. And may we be able, by faith,
to lay hold of them. 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. Amen.