Matthew 7, verse 7 through 11. It's a very simple message today. I hope it is very understandable
for you, and I hope it gives you great comfort and confidence
to approach the Lord Jesus Christ for what He said here. Listen
to these words. In Matthew 7, chapter 7, verse
7 through 11. Jesus says this, it's part of
his sermon. He says, "...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. Or what man
is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him
a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he
give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall
your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that
ask him? Jesus says, Ask, Seek, Knock. That's the title of today's message. Ask, Seek, and Knock. Now, there's an obvious need
for us to ask, to seek, and to knock, since the Lord Jesus Christ
has commanded us to ask, seek, and to knock. Isn't there? How
great must our need be if we need to be told to ask and to
seek and to knock? And also we see here that our
need is only met when we ask and when we seek and we knock.
And we also see in these verses, as we're going to explore in
just a moment here, that our need is actually only met in
the answer God gives. If we ask God for something and
He gives it to us, gives us an answer, then it's His answer
That is what we need, isn't it? It's His work of grace, it's
His answer. So our need is known by His command,
and our need is met by our asking and seeking and knocking. And
it's a great need, because we had to be told it by the Son
of God. Actually, it's not just the Lord
Jesus Christ who commands us this, although He's the one speaking
here. Who wrote the Bible? It's the
Spirit of God writing it through men. So the Spirit of God is
recording these words that Jesus spoke to His disciples for us. So not only Christ, but the Spirit
of God is telling us, ask, seek, and knock. And, not only that,
but Jesus says in these words, He says, Your Father knows how
to give good things to them that ask Him. So it's the triune God. It's God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit who tells us to ask, to seek,
and to knock. What a gracious God we have,
that He would command us in our need, tell us, this is the way
you find what you need, is by coming and asking and seeking
and knocking. And notice also that these words
are not just words of command, but they're words of promise.
Look what he says here in verse 7. Ask, and it shall be given
to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened. Verse 8. For everyone that asks
receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall
be opened. Everyone This is a huge promise. It's one thing to give
us a command. It's another thing to add to
that command a promise. It's like there's a two-fold
grace that's being given here. First, the command. You sinners,
you need something. God tells us of our need. And
then He promises, if you do what I've said, I'll give you all
that you ask for. How many times have you asked
God for something and haven't received it? Does this mean that
we can ask Him for anything and that He'll give it to us? Is
it like a blank check, like a genie in a bottle who says, ask me
three things and I'll give you whatever you ask for? Is it like
that? It can't be because we know that,
for example, the Apostle Paul had a thorn in his flesh and
he asked the Lord three times that it would be removed and
it wasn't removed. God says, My grace is sufficient
for thee. God's answer to Paul was not
what he was asking for, to have the thorn removed from his flesh. But it was an answer, nonetheless,
and the answer God gave was the answer that He needed. So when
we ask, we know this, God will give us good things. And so what
we need to seek for, what we need to ask for, and what we
need to knock, is good things. That's what God has promised
to give. It's God's goodness that He gives to us. Have you
ever thought about that? If we come and we ask, what does
it mean? It means that we don't have whatever
we are asking for. It means that we lack something.
In the very first part, as we began reading the Sermon on the
Mount, Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit. That means
so those that have nothing. God describes His people by what
they don't have. They don't have anything. They're
poor in spirit, and they therefore need to ask. When we ask, we
come without whatever it is we need, coming to God for all that
we need. And it shows us that God is the
gracious God. When we ask God for something,
recognize this, that God gives us all things. He gives us breath. He gives us a heartbeat. He gives
us life. He gives us food. He gives us
everything. But most importantly, He gives us spiritual life. And
that's what we need to ask for. Life. So we want to recognize
that God is gracious and so condescending in His mercy and His glory to
command sinners to come to Him to have their needs met. It's
God's goodness that He gives to us. God the Father knows how
to give good gifts to His children, and that's the reason why Jesus
is so confident that when He says, if you ask, God will give,
because God is good. And he even gives the example,
if a son asks his father for something, you that have children,
you know, you know you want to give good things to your children.
If they ask you for something, it's almost like at that point
when they ask you, they've come to you humbly, they've come to
you in need, And they're acknowledging that you're able to help them.
And you want nothing more than to give them what they're asking
for. You'll do all that's within your power to give them what
they're asking for. And God is that kind of God.
And He cares for His people. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
relying on His faithfulness and His goodness in making this promise.
He's promising God is going to give to His people good things. But we need to understand what
it is we ask for, what it is we seek, and what shall we find
when we come seeking and knocking and asking. And this is, I think,
where we probably have, you know, when we read these words, we
read them in the scripture, and we can superficially see, ask,
seek, and knock, and we might just go on to the next verse
and not wonder. What it is I need? What I need to seek for? How
do I seek it? How do I find it? And this is the glory of God's
goodness to us, is that what we need most, we find in Him
the most. Look at Proverbs chapter 21. Proverbs 21. We already read
in Matthew 6.33 what we're supposed to seek first, the kingdom of
God and His righteousness. But look at this in Proverbs
21.21. He says, He that followeth after
righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honor. If we follow after, that means
to seek it. If we seek after righteousness
and mercy, we find life, righteousness and honor. What is it that we're
to seek for? Spiritual blessings from God. What is it to seek? What do we
seek for? How do we seek? And how does God give us what
we seek for? Those are questions that we need
to ask and we need to answer. First thing we need to realize,
though, is that the Lord wants us to ask, wants us to know our
need, wants us to come to Him to have our needs met. Look at
Psalm chapter 22. Because here, we see that in
this psalm, the Lord Jesus Christ is praying to his God. And he's
praying as one who is seeking, and asking, and knocking. Look
what he says here in Psalm 22, verse 1. He cries out. And when he speaks these words,
Jesus is on the cross. And on the cross, he prays. And
he prays this prayer because when he was on the cross, why
was he there? He was there because God had
made him to be sin for his people. And having made him sin, God
was pouring out the wrath against sin that his justice demanded. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
bearing that wrath for his people. And so he prays this prayer.
He says, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" When
Jesus prayed this prayer, the sky went dark. And so the people
knew that because this was at noontime, in the middle of the
day, the sky went dark. The people knew that the sky
went dark because God had taken away His light. God had made
it dark, and the darkness indicated God's displeasure. And it was
the Lord God Himself who was pouring out His indignation,
His wrath upon Jesus because of our sin. And He cries. Having
our sin on Him, Jesus cries. When His Father removed His presence,
He says, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why art
thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?"
Jesus was forsaken, and so Jesus asked, and he sought, he was
seeking for God. He lost him. Why did he lose
him? It was because God forsook him. He took away his presence from
him. And having lost his presence,
Jesus needed nothing more than to have that presence restored.
So when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, what happened? God
said, in the day you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, you shall surely die. And when they ate, God sent them
out of the garden. And first of all, God came to
them in the middle of the garden, in the midst of the garden, and
He walked in the garden and He spoke to them. He says, Adam,
where are you? And it was then when God talked to them about
their sin and they were cast out of the garden. And so they
were kicked out of the garden and they couldn't get back in
because God protected it. He protected the way to the tree
of life with a cherubim, with a flaming sword guarding it.
And so they lost paradise. They needed to get back. What
would they do? They would ask. They would need
to seek. They would need to knock. Knock,
I need entrance. Seek, I don't know how to find
my way back. I don't even know what I really
need. God Himself has to meet my need
and ask because God is the only one who could meet it. Now when
Jesus prays this prayer, He is experiencing the same forsaking
by God. Sin is what separates us from
God. And so He says, Oh my God, I
cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not, and in the night
season, and am not silent. All day and night, in the night
and the darkness, in the day the Lord Jesus Christ cried.
from the cross. And then he says in his prayer,
"...but thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of
Israel." Jesus knew that because God forsook him, it was because
God was holy. And he praised this so we would
know that it was because God cannot look upon sin. Verse 4,
"...our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst
deliver them." They cried to thee, and they were delivered.
They trusted in thee, and were not confounded." He's relying
on God's Word. God's Word promised that the
fathers, those who came before, they trusted in God, and He delivered
them. But then he says in verse 6,
But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised
of the people. Comparing himself to them, he
says, I'm less. I'm just like a worm. Because
God had laid the sins of his people on him. And he was laid
down by them so low, it was like he was in the dirt, like a worm.
So humbled by our sin. Shameful. Filthy. and the guilt
of it on his conscience, and he prays this way. And then he
says in verse 7, "...all they that see me laugh me to scorn."
They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying,
he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver
him, seeing he delighted in him. They were mocking him. They were
saying, well, he trusted God. Let God deliver him then if he
trusted in him. And Jesus says, but thou art
he that took me out of the womb. Even when he was first born,
he says, you brought me out of the womb. Thou didst make me
hope when I was upon my mother's breast as an infant. Depending
on the milk from my mother, I hoped in you. You were my hope, my
only trust. I was cast upon thee from the
womb. Thou art my God from my mother's
belly. You see how Jesus is praying
here in his prayer? entirely dependent upon God,
as an infant, helpless, depending upon Him. And he's thinking back
about the time when he was so helpless as an infant, and he
says, you saved me then, you upheld me then. And then he cries
in verse 11, "...be not far from me, for trouble is near, and
there is none to help." He had no one else to turn to. No one
else could help him. He bore the sins of his people.
Only God could deliver him. And then he goes on, he compares
the people who were killing him to strong bulls. He says, Many
bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me
round. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and
a roaring lion, looking to tear him apart like a lion. That's
what these people were like. And then he says, I am poured
out like water. All my bones are out of joint,
and my heart is like wax. It's melted in the midst of my
bowels. You can hurt yourself. You might
hurt your foot, or your toe, or your arm, or even your head,
or something like that. But when your heart is melted,
you have no strength. It doesn't matter how strong
you are. When you have no comfort in your heart, when you have
no hope, no expectation. It says in the Proverbs, without
a vision the people perish. Here, the Lord Jesus Christ is
left without the comfort of His Father. And He says, My heart
is like wax, it's melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength
is dried up like a potsherd, like a dead dry leaf or a...
A pod of peas is lying there in the dirt just dried and my
tongue cleaves to my jaws that has brought me into the dust
of death." You see what he's doing? He's pouring out his complaint,
his agony, here on the cross. He says, "...for dogs have compassed
me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced
my hands and my feet." That's what they did to Jesus. They
nailed him to the cross. "...I may tell all my bones,
they look and stare upon me." He was without clothes. They
stripped Him of all that He had. They part my garments. He's hanging
on the cross, dying, whipped, beaten, spit upon. His God has
forsaken Him. His friend betrayed Him. All
of His disciples had forsaken Him. And the soldiers mocked
Him and beat Him. And now they're on the ground
gambling over his clothes. They part my garments among them. They cast lots for my vesture.
And then here's his cry. But be not thou far from me,
O Lord, O my strength. Haste thee to help me. You see
what he's doing? He's calling out for God. O God,
if everything is taken from me, all of my strength in life, all
the health that I have, my friends have betrayed me, my disciples
have forsaken me, and here I am beaten and mocked by the abjects,
the wicked of the earth. He says, but his cry is this,
be not thou far from me, O Lord, O my strength, haste thee to
help me. When trouble is at its greatest,
God's grace given to us causes us to cry out, Lord, I need you. That's what prayer is. Lord,
I need you. I need you. Seeking God is seeking
Him. And when we pray this way, we're
seeking Him. He says, "...deliver my soul
from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog. Save me
from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns
of the unicorns." That would be the altar. "...I will declare
thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation
will I praise thee." And in the next three verses, look at these.
He says, "...you that fear the Lord, praise Him. All you the
seed of Jacob, glorify Him, and fear Him, all you the seed of
Israel. For He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of
the afflicted, neither hath He hid His face from Him, but when
He cried, He heard. You see this? The promise is,
when the Lord Jesus cried, what happened? God heard Him. And He tells this to those that
fear the Lord, because when the Lord Jesus cried, He didn't cry
for Himself only. He cried for His people. And
He says, My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation.
I will pay my vows before them that fear Him. The meek shall
eat and be satisfied. Now look at these next words.
I want you to focus on these. They shall praise the Lord that
seek Him. Your heart shall live forever.
Do you see that? They shall praise the Lord that seek Him. This
is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's on the cross. He's praying
to His Father because of His tremendous need. He's seeking
God in prayer, pouring out His soul in agony. under the affliction
of God's wrath. Nothing could be greater torment
to his soul than that. And in his agony, in his prayer,
he looks from the cross and he foresees in the future All the
desire of his soul would be met. And the desire of his soul was
that his father would be glorified in the salvation of his people.
That all of God's perfections would be made known, his justice
and wisdom, his grace and mercy to sinners. And not only that,
but in these words what he's saying is that untold millions
will come from far across the whole world over. And they will
come out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, and they will
seek the Lord. And they won't just seek Him
in vain, but they shall praise the Lord that seek Him. That's
what these words mean. They shall praise the Lord that
seek Him. And so when the Lord Jesus Christ,
in His Sermon on the Mountain, Matthew 7, verse 7 through 11,
tells us, ask, seek, knock. He's telling us this on the basis
of what He's done here on the cross, praying in this prayer,
and He's saying, you ask, you seek, you knock, because I have
earned From God, for you, an answer. An answer of grace. And
that answer of grace is given to you. Because I was heard. Because in my agony, in bearing
your sins, I was heard for you. And God answered me. In God's
faithfulness, He answered me. He is my trust. He is my hope.
And He's telling us, find your hope, your help. and your trust
in him as well, and praise him." That's what he's saying here.
So that is, that's the way in which God answers our prayers. That's the basis on which God
answers our asking, our seeking, and our knocking. It's because
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished all God gave him to do for his
people. And the accomplishment was that
he would save them. And the reason he did that is
to the glory of his Father. And he tells his people, you
rejoice! And then he thinks with great
joy about the glory he would bring to his father when all
of these ungodly men and women and boys and girls from across
the earth over all time would seek God's grace because of what
Christ had done. And he's hanging on the cross
and joy fills his heart. And he cries out at the end of
his life, with his last breath, it is finished. It's finished.
It's done. God has heard. God has accepted
him. God received his offering and
God heard his prayer. And God will do all that he says.
So now turn back to Matthew chapter 7. And you see, here the Lord
Jesus Christ tells us, I want you now, ask, seek, and knock,
because it shall be given to you. The Son of God Himself promises,
on the basis of the reward He earned for His people, that God
would give good things to those that ask Him. Now, the question
is, how? What is the means? What is the
way in which God gives us these good things? And that's what
I want you to consider with me next. We see here the basis of
the answer, but what is the means? How is it the Lord answers us?
And when you think of seeking the Lord, what is it that you
think of? Maybe you don't even think about seeking Him. Then
this command comes to you. Seek the Lord. It says in Isaiah
55 verse 6, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. In fact,
let's look at that together. We'll go there first and then
I'll turn to the next text. He says in Isaiah chapter 55,
look at this. And this chapter opens up, I'll
read the first six verses. He says, ho, attention, look. Ho at every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat." It's like they're in a desert place. He says, come
to the waters. They have nothing to drink. Come
ye, nothing to eat. Come ye, buy and eat. Yay, come, buy wine and milk. without money and without price. What God is telling us to do
as sinners is to come and bring nothing to pay and receive all
that God is telling us here. Verse 2, Wherefore do you spend
your money for that which is not bread? You work and you labor
and you earn money and then you take your money out and you spend
it for something that's no good. And your labor for that which
satisfieth not. Why do you do that? And then
he gives the answer here. He says, this is the way sinners
are. We labor in self-deception and
we waste our time, we waste our life pursuing things that are
meaningless and empty and vain. And our trust is in this world
and our hope is in things that we can invent and try to bring
to God something that he will accept us by. And he says, Here's
what you need to do. You need to hearken diligently
unto me. And in listening, that's what
hearken means. It means to hear. Hear diligently
unto me and eat ye that which is good and let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Incline your ear. How do you
delight yourself in fatness? This is how. Incline your ear
and come unto me. Hear and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have
given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander
to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not, they shall run
unto thee because of the Lord thy God. Nations would run to
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying. Because
he has glorified thee. Look at verse 6. Seek ye the
Lord while he may be found. while he may be found. Seek ye
the Lord. Look for Him. Look for Him. You don't have. You're lost. Seeking means you're looking
for something. And something that you've lost. Something that
you need. Something you don't know where
it's at. Not only that, but it means that you don't know where,
not only not where to find it, but you need help in finding
it. You're seeking the Lord while he may be found. That's what
we are as sinners. We're lost, we're blind, we're
helpless. We can't find. And he says, "...while
he may be found." Where is this? When is this time? "...while
he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near." Well, that's what I want you to think about with me. How
does the Lord make himself known to us? Look at Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. Because there's
something here that's quite amazing. Something that is called, in
scripture, a very bold prophecy. He says in Romans chapter 10,
in verse 11, he says, the scripture sayeth this, whoever believes
on him, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall not be ashamed. Men are
ashamed all the time. They might build a house and
build a strong foundation. And then there's a storm comes
and the waters come up and rise up and destroy the house. And
now they're ashamed. They're disappointed. Men put
their trust in the financial markets. And then when the financial
markets collapse, they're ashamed and disappointed. Men put their
trust in all sorts of things. In their good works, or their
religious works, or their own hearts. They trust what they
think is right, and they're going to be ashamed. But the Lord says
here in the promise, whoever believes on Him, the Lord Jesus
Christ, shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. They're all the same. All under
sin. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon
Him." You see that? That's what asking is. Verse
13, "...for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord..."
That means to call upon Him as He reveals Himself. His name
is just a title for all that He reveals Himself to be. "...whoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And what
is the name He's given to Himself? Jesus, His name shall be called
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. We call
upon Him who shall save us from our sins, don't we? That's calling
on the Lord. Whoever calls upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? I was working with a man a long
time ago and trying to explain the gospel to him. And he says,
well, yeah, but why would I ever call on God if I don't believe
on Him? I said, that's amazing that you say that. That's exactly
what the scripture says. How shall they call on Him whom
they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they have not heard? You can't believe unless you've
heard. How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? No one can take God's message
unless God sends him. And no one can believe God unless
God sends his word to that man through a preacher. And he says,
He says, How shall they preach, except they be sent, as it is
written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace. What is it that God sends? What's
the message? It's the gospel of peace. And
they that bring glad tidings of good things. And then he says
this in verse 16, But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For
Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report. So then, Listen to
these words. Very important. Faith comes by
hearing. And hearing comes by the Word
of God. The Gospel. When Isaiah said
that, it was Isaiah 53. All about what Jesus had done.
And look at this next part. But I say, have they not heard?
Didn't Israel hear? Yes, verily, their sound went
into all the earth, and their words to the end of the worlds.
But I say, did not Israel know? If faith comes by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God, didn't Israel hear? Didn't they know?
And God says, well, first Moses said, I will provoke you to jealousy
by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger
you. But Isaiah, listen to this, Isaiah is very bold, and he says,
I was found of them that sought me not. Wait a minute, didn't
Jesus just say, if you seek me you'll find? But Isaiah says,
I was found, speaking in God's name, speaking from God's message,
he says, I, the Lord, was found of them that sought me not. Why? How is this? I was made manifest
to them that ask not after me. You see this? What is God saying
here? It's like Isaiah has taken the
laws of God's gospel that says you need to ask, seek, and knock,
and he's turned them inside out and said, but I was found by
those that didn't seek me. And I was made known to those
that didn't ask for me. There's a few, many things are
taught here. One is what we're seeking and
what we're asking for is the Lord Jesus Christ. How did He
make Himself known to these Gentiles? How did He make Himself known
to those who were not seeking for Him here? We just read it
through the preaching of the Gospel. How do we seek the Lord? We might, we pray like Jesus
prayed, but how does He tell sinners to seek Him? Hearing. the gospel. We come week in and
week out. We need to avail ourselves to
hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because when we hear
of what Christ Jesus has done, God speaks to us. God gives us
faith. God directs our hope and trust
to Him. We hear how that God made him
a surety. And that God received from Him
all that He required of His people. And then He received His people
as if He was receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We hear that in
the Gospel. And we put our trust in Him.
God has received all from His Son on my account. And now when
He received His Son from the dead and heard Him from the cross,
He was receiving me with Him? Yes, that's the Gospel. You weren't
looking for that answer, were you? You didn't know where it
was. You couldn't understand it. But even though you weren't
looking for the truth of the Gospel, God graciously gives
it to us in the preaching of His Word. causes us to see it
and persuades us of it and causes us to lay hold and embrace it
and then confess the Lord Jesus Christ. What a great God He is. I need, and what do I need? I need to be saved by His grace
alone. I need Him to save me in spite
of my sin. I need Him to choose me unconditionally
and save me Definitely and certainly His atonement has to actually
take away my sins and His Spirit actually has to give me life
and cause me to believe Him. Lord, save me. That's what we
pray, calling on His name. And that's the way we seek. We
seek Him when we hear the Gospel because it comes to us graciously
by the sovereign hand of God. Giving us faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Lifting Him up before our eyes.
That's what He prayed in Psalm 22. He says, They shall praise
Him that seek Him. And they seek Him when the Gospel
is preached. When God opens our ears. He's
drawing us. I have loved thee, he says in
Jeremiah 31 3, with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Isn't drawing the reciprocal
of seeking? Isn't it the origin of our seeking?
God draws us and we come. We seek him because he calls
us and draws us. Jesus says this in John chapter
6, and I know you know these words, but let me read them to
you. bring them alongside he says John chapter 6 in verse
44 he says no man can come to me except the father which has
sent me draw him how are you going to seek him God has to
draw us and I will raise him up at the last day that one who
God draws it is written in the prophets they shall be all taught
of God every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of
the Father comes to me." Seeking is the response of God drawing. God draws us through the preaching
of the gospel. He makes himself known in hearing
the gospel, and he gives us faith, and faith is the receiving grace. We ask, we seek, we knock, but
we don't know what we really need until it's given to us,
do we? Go back to Matthew chapter 7.
And so we come, Lord, I have a great need. You have commanded
me. You have promised to meet my
need. You've told me. Yourself, the Son of God, has
told me. The Spirit of God has recorded
it for me here, for my comfort and my learning. And here the
Father is lifted up to us as the one who will fill That need
we have when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ in this way, and
then we learn that it's on the basis of what Christ has done,
and it comes to us through the preaching of the gospel. And
we're told, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts. Our thoughts naturally go like
this. I bring something to God and
He accepts me for it. It's either a sacrifice, or it's
a prayer, or it's a work that I do. It's a religious activity.
It's what I think God would like. But none of that avails towards
God. The sacrifices, the prayers,
the work, Everything that we do naturally is an abomination
to God. The only thing God can receive
from sinners is what He received from His Son for sinners. And
that's what faith teaches us. And so when the Lord Jesus tells
us to come, asking, seeking, knocking, He's telling us to
come to Himself, to receive from Himself, to receive from Himself,
from God. And that's what we need. What
a comfort this is. Now the last thing I want to
point out here, is that this asking, and this seeking, and
this knocking, when I was growing up, I assumed that this was either
prayers for things, I need a job, I need to go to school, I need
a truck, or a car, or a house, or a wife, or I need to sleep,
or I need food, or whatever I need, I just need to ask. And it's
right to ask for everything. But we trust God to give us what
He deems best. But when it comes to salvation,
we think naturally that our asking and our seeking and our knocking
are just a one-time thing. I was under the conviction of
sin and I asked and the Lord answered and that's it. And I
forgot about it from that point on. But these things are ongoing. And this is where the difference
is between walking by faith and what you hear naturally in this
religious world. We are continually asking, seeking,
and knocking. Remember what it says in Psalm
34 around verse 17? The righteous cry, and the Lord
hears him. The righteous cry, and the Lord
hears him. Look at, I think it's in Psalm
57. Let me read this to you in Psalm
57 and verse 2. He says this, verse 1, he says,
Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul
trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. Verse
2 is what I wanted to read. I will cry unto God Most High,
unto God that performeth all things for me. You see? I cry to Him for everything.
Look at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6. He says, But without
faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is. And that He is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek Him. Diligently seek Him. Those who
diligently seek Him. And how do we seek Him? How do
we come to Him? How do we come to Him in this
faith? We come to Him with this attitude. Everything I need is
only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything I need from
God, I receive from Him. If I need to be turned from my
sins, He must grant me repentance. If I need to believe on Him,
He must give me faith. Whatever it is, do I need to
love God? He must show me that He first
loved me. All these things, they come from
Him. Those are the spiritual blessings we need to seek. And
not only that, but everything God demands of me. Christ has
provided for me. That's what faith does. When
we come to God and believe that God is, and that He is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek Him, that's the attitude we're
coming with. All I need. Because that's what diligence
does. Diligently seeking Him teaches us that we have nothing
that we need. And that Christ is everything.
And in diligently seeking Him, we discover this. And so we come
in faith and say, Lord, give me. Provide for me and give me
all that I need. And then, one more verse. Look
at Luke chapter 11. And I'll leave you with this. Luke chapter 11. He says here in verse, the same
things there, he says, Well, actually, verse 5, he says,
And Jesus said to them, Which of you shall have a friend, and
shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lead
me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey has come
to me, and I have nothing to give, nothing to set before him.
So here a man, his friend comes to him, and he's on his travels,
and he stops at his house, he doesn't have anything, so he
goes to his friend's house, and he says, I need help, please
give me some bread. But his friend is asleep. He
goes to his friend to ask for bread and he says, he's asleep.
He from within shall answer and say, trouble me not. The door
is now shut. My children are with me in bed.
I cannot rise and give thee. I say to you, the Lord Jesus
says, though he will not rise and give him because he is his
friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as
much as he needs. Importunity means He needs it
so bad that he just keeps coming. And the shame of asking doesn't
even enter his mind because his need is so great. And he just
keeps coming because he will not stop until he gets what he
needs. And Jesus says, I say to you,
ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened to you. For everyone that asks, receives.
And he that seeks, finds. To him that knocks, 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, now that's ridiculous. What kind of a father would give
his son a poisonous snake or a scorpion when he asks for food? Dad, I'm hungry. Here, have a
scorpion. If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, you do, don't you?
You're evil and yet you know how to give good gifts to your
children? I'd be happy to go out and work in order to give
to my children that they might have. I'm happy to do that. And
you're evil. How much more? Your Heavenly
Father is not evil. Shall your Heavenly Father give
what? The Holy Spirit. to them that ask Him." The good
things are the things that come to us with the Holy Spirit. The
Holy Spirit Himself is given to us. Having the Holy Spirit,
we see Christ. We have faith. We're taught what
He has done. We're given hope and all the
fruits of the Spirit. Everything comes to us. We know
our adoption. We receive everything from God
by His Spirit. And God gives us His Spirit.
Ask. Seek. Knock. Just keep knocking. Lord, I need entrance. I need
access. And He teaches us, your access
and your entrance is by Christ. I need to know you. You know
me in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, I need salvation. I need
to be bought. I need to be brought. I need
to be taught. It's all in Christ. Lord, I need to be delivered
from my sin. And what does God teach us? He
teaches us their only hope is what Christ has done. And even
though sin seems to overwhelm us, and we feel like we're going
to be drowned by our own wickedness, yet He points us to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He says, look at Him. Look at what He's done.
See how I received Him. See how I've promised to do everything
for those to whom He's given His Son, for whom He's given.
Look to Him. Receive all in Him. And in looking
to Him, you know what we find? I have everything from God. Let's
pray. Father, thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. It's on the
basis of what he did. It's our warrant to come by his
command, and it's our blessed comfort to come because of your
promise. We stand upon your goodness, Father. We come because of your
grace in Christ. We know, Lord, that what we need
is these spiritual blessings. Having the Lord Jesus, we know
we have all things. You've taught us this. When we
weren't looking for Him, You preached Him to us. You convinced
us. You persuaded us. Caused us to
embrace Him and confess that He's our all. Lord, teach us
this over and over and over again. Help us to never tire of coming
and asking and seeking and knocking. Help us to always know that it's
your greatness of grace and goodness that gives to us all things,
even the command to come and seek and find our gracious commands
from you. Thank you, Lord, for your goodness.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.