Luke 11. I want to begin this
message by reading our text, and I want to point out the key
summary of the whole matter, the conclusion of the whole matter,
the point that we're trying to get to. And then we're going
to leave this text and spend our time building back up to
it. So we're gonna begin the message
with the text, and then we'll come back to it at the end of
the message. Let's read Luke 11, verses nine
to 13. The Lord said, I say unto you,
ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you 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 if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a
father will he give him a stone Or if he ask a fish, will he
for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will
he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your heavenly Father give?" And this is the key point. All right,
this is what I want to emphasize. He said, if you 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? That's what he's talking about
when he says, ask, seek, knock. That's what he's talking about.
He said, the father will give you the Holy Spirit. Now let's look at something that
I pray will cause us to realize the need of heeding the word
of the Lord. Man cannot live by bread alone.
It's going to take every word from our Lord. So let's see if
we will receive an understanding of our need to heed that Word. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Samuel 3. It's toward the beginning of the Old
Testament. 1 Samuel 3. I told you a moment ago in the
Bible study that that study or the Sunday school lesson, as
some people call it, and this message, they would go hand in
hand. They do because they both emphasize
the critical importance of the spiritual things of God. Both
the Bible study that we just had and this message both urge
us to lay hold on the only thing that matters, the one thing that's
needful, the only thing of critical importance, the only thing, and
that's Christ. That's Christ and that's everything
that pertains to him. That's all that matters. That's
all that will last. That's all that we need. I don't want us to just assume
that we have him. I've been thinking about us.
I've been thinking about us. My brain has been running the
pews, thinking about us. Thinking about the believers,
the people that God has brought to worship here. I do not want
us to assume that we have Him. I'm speaking to myself too. That's
the point of this message. I do not want us to assume that
we possess the only thing that matters. We say there's only
one thing that matters. We got to have this one thing
that matters. I do not want any of us to assume that we have
the one thing that is needful in this life. Here in 1 Samuel 3, this is,
I wanna show you why, right here in 1 Samuel 3. This is the story
of Samuel. This boy who grew up to be a
man, Samuel. You may remember how you may
know the story and remember how his mother Hannah prayed to the
Lord to have him. The scripture says she was barren
and couldn't have a child and she prayed to the Lord and he
answered her prayer and gave her a son. And in turn, the scripture
says she lent him to the Lord. She gave him to the service of
the Lord. As a young boy, it's estimated
by some, he was around 10 years old, that she sent him to live
in the temple to help serve with Eli, who was the priest, God's
priest. He literally grew up in church. He grew up there. All right,
he grew up in church. From a boy, he grew up in church. It was his life. It's what he
did. It's what he knew. I'm sure that
that young man was very diligent at it. I'm sure he was. Or Eli would not have allowed
him to continue the service. I'm sure he was very devout,
committed, as the scripture says. I'm sure he understood the importance
of it. Do we understand the importance
of this? I believe even our children understand the importance of
this. I'm sure Samuel was very reverent
in doing whatever his responsibilities were. But the scripture tells
us something right here about Samuel that is of critical importance. And I want us to pay very, very
close attention to this. Verse one, first Samuel three,
verse one. It says the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was
precious in those days. There was no open vision, just
like right now, there's no open vision. And it came to pass at
the time when Eli was laid down in his place, when his eyes began
to wax dim that he could not see. And before the lamp of God
went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was
and Samuel was laid down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel and
he answered, here am I. And he ran unto Eli and said,
here am I for thou called me. And Eli said, I called not lie
down again. And Samuel went and lay down.
And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and
went to Eli and said, here am I for thou didst call me. And
he answered, I called not my son lie down again. Now this
is what I want us to say. Verse seven says, now Samuel
did not yet know the Lord. Neither was the word of the Lord
yet revealed unto him." Samuel did not yet know the Lord. Samuel did not yet know the Lord. He had obviously heard of the
Lord. Obviously. He had heard the Word of the
Lord. And the reason we know that is
because the Word of the Lord is where they got the order of
their service to conduct the business of the temple. God told
them exactly how to serve in the temple. Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy. He had heard the Word of the
Lord. I'm sure he could quote quite
a bit of it. But the scripture says, he did
not yet know the Lord. And the word of the Lord had
not yet been revealed to him. Do we see that? This is so critical. It's just so serious. This is so serious. He was steeped
in religion. He saw and he knew the ordinances
of the temple. He knew how things went. He watched
Eli offer sacrifices. He watched him shed the blood
of bulls and goats. I'm sure one of Samuel's responsibilities
was to help Eli clean up. I'm sure it was. And I'm sure
he asked Eli, why are we doing this? And I'm sure Eli talked
to him about these things. Eli loved Samuel. Samuel loved
Eli. For all that could be seen on
the outside, Samuel was a fine Christian boy. That's what makes this so, just
so critical. He was not a troublemaker out
in the gutter. He was not. He knew the Lord's house. He
knew the Lord's service. He knew the Lord's word. He knew
the Lord's ordinances. He knew the Lord's priest. But the critical problem was
he did not yet know the Lord. I do not want us to know religion
without knowing the Lord. I don't know if that, I don't
know if the whole thought of this strikes any fear. It strikes
fear in me. It just makes me, it's a sobering
thing. It's a sobering moment. I do not want us, like I just
said, I include myself in this. I'm telling you, I include myself
in this. I do not want us to have religion. Even God's religion. Eli was
God's priest doing God's service in God's temple. I do not want us to have religion,
but miss Christ. That needs to be a concern for
every soul on this earth because it happens all the time. It happens all the time. Even
the apostle Paul said, all right, the apostle Paul, he said, I
keep my body in subjection. I keep myself low and humbled
because after I have preached the gospel to you, he said, I
don't want to find myself to be a castaway. A soul who did not truly in the
end know the Lord and did not truly have the word of the Lord
revealed to him. This is my prayer for us. This
is my prayer for us. All right. I want this for us. Turn with me over to Acts chapter
16. I want this for us. Acts chapter 16. Right here, the Apostle Paul
was brought by the Spirit of God to Philippi. He was brought
by the Spirit of God. In the Bible study, we read that
our Lord was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Apostle
Paul was brought by the Spirit to Philippi. And verse 13, Acts
chapter 16, verse 13, it says, on the Sabbath, we went out of
the city by a riverside where prayer was known to be made,
And we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted there. And a certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped
God. All right. That's those are two
very important words. She worshiped God. She was a worshiper of God. She was a person who wanted to
gather with the people who worshiped God. But until this point, we're
about to find out that until this point, something was missing. Something was missing, just like
every person. Before the Lord comes and does
his work of grace, She may have heard them talk about spiritual
unions and relationships with Christ and being vitally joined
to Him. You know, she probably heard
those kinds of words. She may have heard them talk
about the difference in religion and Christ. Oh, there's a difference
in religion and Christ. The difference in the doctrine
and the person. She may have wondered about these
things. She may have been puzzled about
these things. She may have had questions and
kept coming because she was searching for answers. She may have been one who worshiped
God, but had no idea what that really meant. She showed up and went through
the motions and left and came back, but had no idea really
what she was worshiping. But when it pleased God, and
that's the key, when it pleased God, oh, this thing is all in
His hands. This is all by His doings. This
is all according to His mercy and all according to His grace.
When it pleased God, In His appointed time, according to His good will
and His good pleasure, He sent His Spirit to her. That's what
we're witnessing right here. He sent His Spirit to her and
He did it through a messenger of His gospel. That's how He
was pleased to do it. and through the preaching of
the gospel of his word. Verse 14 says, a certain woman
named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which
worshiped God, heard. Us is in italics. Heard. Look at that next line. Whose
heart the Lord opened. Whose heart the Lord opened. This is what I want for us. I'm telling you, I love you.
I care about you. And selfishly, I love me and
I care about me. And this is what I want for us. Lord, don't let another day go
by. Let's not put this off till next Sunday. This is what I want
for us. By the preaching of his word,
by the goodness of his grace, the Holy Spirit of the Lord opened
her heart. opened her heart. The Holy Spirit
of the Lord called her, quickened her to life, gave her
eyes to see, ears to hear, like that time our Lord stuck his
fingers in that man's ear and said, be opened. gave that woman a heart to believe. And at that moment, she stopped
trying to figure out religion and she fell in love with Christ. That's what happened. She stopped
trying to figure out religion and she fell in love with Christ.
The Lord opened her heart. Hannah's grandfather, a very,
very dear man named Ed Ballard. We know somebody who's named
after him. He's gone on to be with the Lord now. But when he
was a young man with a young family, he became so dissatisfied
with the false religion church he was attending, he went to
the big place. And he just, he was so dissatisfied because he
said there was just nothing to it. There's just nothing to this.
So he went looking, he went to other churches and he came in
to hear Brother Henry Mahan. That was one of the places he
went to. And he said, I'll go back and
hear him because he preaches out of the Bible. He wasn't finding
anybody else who was actually preaching out of the Bible. And
he said, at least he's using the Bible, so I'll go back and
hear him. But his line, whenever he was
leaving was, he said, I don't know what I'm not hearing, but
I know I'm not hearing it. That's what he said. Something's
missing. Something's missing. I can't put my finger on it.
I don't know what I'm not hearing, but I know I'm not hearing it. And he kept going back to hear
Henry, and Henry would stand at the door after the service,
and everybody come through, and Henry would stick his hand out,
and he'd say, come back, Ed. And Ed was a big man. He'd say, I might. That's what
he said. I might. Week after week, Sunday after
Sunday. Come back, Ed, come back and
see us. I might." Henry said, one day, the Lord
opened his heart. And he came back to the back
of the building, and before Henry could get a word out, he said,
I see it. I see him. He said, I'm going to be back
tonight. I'm going to be back Wednesday night. I'm going to
be back next Sunday morning. I see him. I see him. That's the evidence
that a person has stopped trying to figure out religion and has
fallen in love with Christ. That's the evidence. I see Him. I want to stress to all of us
the importance of loving Christ. Falling in love with Christ. Knowing Christ, not just religion, but Christ. Not just doctrine. Not just doctrine. but Christ, knowing Him, loving
Him, loving the gospel of His Word, needing the gospel of His
Word, living on and feeding on the gospel of His Word. Life
is too short. It's just too short. We cannot
afford to go through this life missing Christ. We cannot just
blindly waste our days, they're clipping by, just going through
life, missing His Word, not knowing the revelation of His Word. People
say, oh, don't you worry about that. I know the Word. My mom
taught me, you know, as I was a kid who drilled them Bible
verses, that's not what I'm talking about. That's not what I'm talking
about. Samuel could quote Bible verses.
Lydia could quote Bible verses, that's not what I'm talking about.
Turn with me to Luke 24. How do you fall in love with
somebody? Has anybody ever written a book
titled, How to Fall in Love with Somebody? How do you do that? How do you do that? Is that something
you can just decide to do? Well, this just makes good sense
to me. I think I'll fall in love with this person. Is that how
it works? That's something God has to do.
We're at the mercy of God to do it. Luke 24, the apostles,
they were with the Lord for three and a half years. Three and a
half years, they walked with Him every day, every day. And after three and a half years,
after He died, after He was buried, after He rose again, this is
just before He ascended back up to His Father. Look at Luke
24, verse 44. He said unto them, These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the
prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Now watch verse 45. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. and said unto them,
thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day. After all that time
with him," you think about that, walking with the Lord. After
all that time with him, it wasn't until the moment that he revealed
it to them that they understood what they knew. When He revealed it to them,
they were open to it. Their heart was opened. Their
mind was open. Their understanding was open.
They knew. They saw. They understood the
scriptures. What did they understand? What
did they see in it? What did they finally see in
it? Christ. That's what they saw. They saw
Christ. They saw Christ in all of it. They did not. They no longer
saw the law. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. They didn't see the law anymore.
They saw Christ. Well, now, you know, you got
to have a lamb if you don't have a lamb. Christ is my lamb. They saw Christ. They didn't see requirements
that man needs to do. They saw a finished work Christ
had already done. That's what they saw. They saw
a sovereign God. They saw a successful savior.
Up until that point, they were saying, we don't want you to
go to the cross. Don't go to the cross. Oh, we're so sad because
they hung him on the cross. Oh, as soon as he opened their
eyes, they cried, thank God for the cross. That was their message. They saw the King, they saw the
Lord seated on His throne. They saw how every word pointed
to Him and glorified Him. They saw that Christ is all. He's all our hope, He's all our
salvation, He's all our desire. They saw how the Father is pleased
with Him, and He's only pleased with us in Him. They saw how
the Father will only accept Him and He'll only accept us in Him.
They saw how the Father has given everything to Him, and everything
that we have, we will only receive in Him. They saw that he that
hath the Son hath life, and he that has not the Son hath not
life. They saw how every story Oh,
I know those stories, those Bible stories, and you know, you better
straighten up. Every story, every law, every commandment,
every proverb speaks of His death. and the salvation of his people
through that death. Every one of them, he opened
their understanding that they might understand Christ in the
scriptures. Now, if you are one of the ones
who are saying, and I hope so, we're gonna wind up here. If
after all this, Bible study, morning message, if you're one
of the ones who are saying, I want to understand the scriptures. I want to know the Lord. I want to have the word of the
Lord revealed to me. I want the Lord to open my heart. If you are one of the ones who
are saying that sincerely inside right now, then know this, God is sovereign and he is the doer of all things. We are sinful and we are the
doer of nothing. And what that means is this is
not in our hands. If you're one of the ones who
are saying, I want to know the Lord, I want to have His Word
revealed to me and I want Him to open my heart. This is in
His hands. We cannot do anything for ourselves
and we cannot influence Him to do anything for us. Scripture
says we're dead, dead in sin. But this is what God has said
in His Word. He said it has pleased Him. To
buy his Holy Spirit, perform his work of grace in his people
and to speak to his people and to call his people through the
preaching of this word. And if we have been given ears
to hear, if we haven't, we will not be one of the ones who have
heard and are saying inside, I want to know the Lord. I want
to understand these scriptures and I want Him to open my heart.
If He has given us ears to hear His Word, then this is what He
has to say to us. Go back to Luke 11 and we'll
close them with the text. Luke chapter 11. This is His
Word to us, Luke 11, verse 9. He said, I say unto you, ask,
and it shall be given you. Seek, and you 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. If a son shall ask bread of any
of you that's a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he
ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he
shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you 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? That leper came to the Lord asking,
this is what he said. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can. And the Lord said, I most certainly
will. Ask him. I'm telling you, I'm
gonna try to prove to us this is not our work, this is his
work. But hear the word of the Lord. Man cannot live by bread
alone. He's gonna take every word from
our God and here it is. Here's the word of the Lord.
Ask. Ask him. I want you to ask him this. Lord,
would you allow me to know you? Would you please allow me to
know you? Would you please reveal your
word to me? Please. By the gift of your spirit, please,
would you open my heart? Like Lydia, I want that. Would
you please open my heart and give me an understanding? This
is what the God of heaven has said. Everyone that asketh, receiveth. David said in Psalm 27, one thing
have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after. that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold
the beauty of the Lord." David said, I just want to behold His
beauty. I'm seeking His face. David said, when He commanded
me to, my heart cried, Thy face, Lord, will I seek? I'm seeking
You. And here's my question. Will You let me find You? Will you please let me find you?
Our Lord said, everyone that seeketh, findeth. Right here in Luke 11, our Lord
gave us an example of what true knocking is and I'm not gonna
read it. He said, a man is in bed with
his kids and his friend comes and says, a traveler has come
to me and I need bread. And he said, the man won't get
out of the bed because he's his friend He said, I'm already in
the bed. And he's not going to get up
because he's a friend, but he said he'll finally get up because
the man won't stop knocking. Forces him to get out of the
bed. He just cannot take no for an answer. He cannot walk away.
Like Jacob said, Lord, I can't let you go unless you bless me.
I just have to have it. There's no life without it. I
have to have you. Our Lord said, because of his
importunity, that man will rise and give him whatever he needs.
Everyone that knocks and cannot stop knocking. Our Lord said
it shall be opened unto him. Now, I just have to, I'm ready
to close, but I just have to tell you this. I can't close
without saying this. If we have a heart to do this, it's only
the evidence of God's work in us. This is not our work of salvation. This is only the response of
his work of salvation. May God give us the response.
May God give us the response to His work of salvation. May
He reveal an evidence in us that from the heart is asking, seeking,
knocking. May today be the day of that
evidence. Ask, seek, knock. You'll get it. If you want it
and if you need it, you'll get it. May the Holy Spirit make
it so. Hmm.