Okay, open your Bibles now to
Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. If the Lord is pleased to bless
this tonight, we'll all be in for a real blessing. If not, there's still some good things
to be had here. Let's go ahead and read these
verses together. Matthew 7, beginning with verse
7 through 12. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking. from the mountain, and he says,
Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall find it. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one that asketh, receive
it. And he that seeketh, find it. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. What man is there of you whom,
if his son asks bread, will he give him a stone? Or, if he asks a fish, will he
give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that
ask him. Therefore, all things whatsoever
you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. For this is the law and the promise." I remember a time when, as a
young believer, The Lord was first dealing with
me. I remember a time I was going through a particularly tough
time, difficult time. I was struggling with sin terribly,
as all of God's people do and will. Struggle with themselves. Struggle with terrible conflict
of sin within. I was a young man, and every
young man that the Lord deals with, and young woman, They think
about how they can serve the Lord. They think about God's
will for their life. Whereas before, before you knew
him, you felt like you were out of his will. You were going your
own way. You were going the opposite way. And then when he begins
to deal with you, you start thinking about which way you're supposed
to go. What his will for your life is. And you begin searching
and asking him to reveal that to you. And I was thinking about
that. Struggling with sin, struggling
with myself, struggling with what God's will for my life was,
what direction it should take, feeling very downcast, very depressed,
very depressed. You ever been there? And while walking along, I was
working on the railroad at the time, and while walking along,
the job I had at the time, I did a lot of walking by myself, but
I was a brakeman. Hannah Brakeman has a very lonely
job. You walk miles and miles, walk
these trains at 2 or 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, pitch black with
your little lantern, you know, walking down through there looking
for trouble when it breaks down and so forth, taking breaks off.
And I was walking along, just thinking, troubled, and verse
11, Now, everyone whom God really
deals with begins to read the Scripture. They read it. They
pour over it. They've got to have it. And even so, that was me. And I had read this before, but
I was walking along and verse eleven came to my mind and my
heart. So really, so clearly, and so
forcibly, it was as if God Almighty spoke out loud to me, and to
me alone, and said these words to me. How much more shall your
Heavenly Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them
that ask Him? How much more? How much more? Now, I remember
walking the rest of my journey about three feet off the ground.
Burden was totally gone. All my troubles were gone, temporary.
And I walked, I could have leaped a tall building in a single bound.
And I remember walking three feet off the ground, my heart
full of joy and rejoicing. And these verses, particularly
verse eleven, have been a blessing to me ever since that time, a
special blessing to me, a special blessing. All right, let's look
at them one by one together. Verse seven, the Lord of glory
who cannot lie, who is too kind to do evil, too wise to do what's
wrong. He says, ask and it shall be
given. Ask and it shall be given. Now, it's obvious here he's talking
about prayer. He's dealing with the subject
of prayer here. Ask. Ask who? Well, ask God. He talks
about the Father speaking a prayer to God. But there's so much confusion
concerning this thing of prayer, isn't there? There's so much
confusion, so much ignorance concerning this thing of prayer.
There's so many different conceptions of what prayer really is and
how to go about it, aren't there? It doesn't need to be that way.
Do you remember back in chapter six, look back there real quick,
chapter six, verses nine through 15, our Lord gives us the mode
of prayer here, doesn't he? He gives us the essence of true
prayer, how to pray and the essence of it. And verses nine through
15, he says, after this manner, therefore pray. This is how you
pray. Want to know how to pray? He says this is it. Don't need
to be in the dark about this, do we? This is how you pray. Number one. And I think there
are two things, basically, that you could sum all of this up.
Two things. Number one. Praise to God. Prayer
is principally praise and thanksgiving to God. Praise and thanksgiving
to God. Talking about Brother Joe last
time. He prayed up here publicly. How he just kept thanking God
over and over again. Over and over again. I think
everybody in here is blessed by that. But that's the greatest
form of prayer. That's the essence of prayer,
thanksgiving to God, praise to God, praise and worship to God
Almighty. That's what he said. He says,
Our Father which art in heaven, holy is your name. You're holy.
You're God. You're in control. And you deserve
all praise and all thanksgiving and all worship. And then there's
petitions involved. There's praise, and then there
are petitions. That sums up prayer, basically. What petitions are we going to
ask for? The riches of this world, the riches of Egypt, pleasure,
all our bills paid, this and that and the other, health and
wealth and happiness and so forth. Nothing but the soul. Look at
it. Go on with me. Petitions. Verse ten, Thy kingdom
come. Prayer for the gospel. Prayer
for the gospel. And I don't know how many times
I've told you that you get out of this what you put into it.
If you bring an empty bucket, if you bring an empty bucket
and a big bucket, an empty heart, a hungry heart, God will fill
it. I was thinking while I was sitting there, Sherry, and you
were playing those songs, I looked up every song you played and
looked at the words and sang along while you were playing
that. And that blessed my heart tremendously. And I don't know
what you were doing, but you would have got a blessing if
you had entered into those songs. You would have got a blessing.
Particularly, come Holy Spirit, heavenly power. In vain we tune
our formal songs and so forth. Or how can it be? You play that.
How can it be? How can it be? Bring a bucket,
bring an empty, a hungry heart, God will fill it. That's what
he tells us to pray here. Thy kingdom come. Right here. Let us start here. Brother Henry
prayed and studied tonight, didn't he, man? He said, I don't know
about these other men, but he said, I need it. I need this. Thy kingdom come,
let it come to me first. Let it come to me first. The
success of the gospel, the coming of Christ. And then he goes on
to tell us to pray for daily necessities, daily bread, having
food and rain would be content. forgiveness there it is verse
twelve forgiveness petition asking for forgiveness lord forgive
me my sin my debts how much i owe i see i've sinned against god
lord forgive me and then there's intercessory prayer there praying
for others as we forgive our debtor lord make me like christ
make me a forgiving forbearing and forgiving man verse 13 prayer
to a petition to for help from temptations, deliverance from
temptations, deliverance from evil, and then more praise. Thine
is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever." Very simple,
isn't it? A very simple prayer. How long
did it take to pray that? How long would it take to pray
that? Twenty seconds? Well, if it's from the heart,
a true spirit of worship and need, God will hear. God will
hear. But many people, many people
ignorantly think that any request you make of God will be granted
if you utter the magic words in Jesus' name. Right? Kind of like hocus pocus dominocus. Right? Anything in Jesus' name. Kind of like open sesame. You know, you remember seeing
those old Egyptians or whatever. with the turbans on, open sesame,
abracadabra, in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Well, turn over
with me to John 14, John chapter 14. John chapter 14. Let's look at what it means to
ask, to ask in Christ's name. John chapter 14. The world, men
and women ask for worldly things. and consume these things upon
their own lust and get out of a mess they're in. But that's
not the spirit of true prayer. John 14, verses 13 and 14. Look at this with me. John 14,
verses 13 and 14. Whatsoever you shall ask in my
name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Now out of context, And looking
at that verse alone, it appears to say that that just means if
you ask anything of Jesus, anything, it'll be given to you. Well,
Lord, in Jesus' name, I'll take a Rolls Royce. That's what these
hucksters are saying today. That's what these false prophets
on TV are saying today, isn't it? In Jesus' name, I bind thee,
Satan. In Jesus' name, I bind my debts
and my I release unto thee the power of cancelled debt," that
modern-day apostle, so to speak, said. All your bills will be
paid in Jesus' name. Just say the magic word, Hocus
Pocus. That's blasphemy. That's not what he's talking
about here. Look over at John 15. Let's go on. John 15. If you'll read through John 14,
he's talking about those that love him and keep his words,
then the Father will love him and come unto him and make his
abode with him. He that loveth him not, keepeth
not his saying, the Father won't hear him. Talking about keeping
Christ's saying, chapter fifteen, verse seven. If you abide in
me and my words or my teachings abide in you, then you shall
ask what you will. It shall be done to you. Now,
if Jesus Christ, the heart, the mind, let this mind be in you,
Terry Kennedy, which was also in Christ. If the mind of Christ
is in you, what are you going to ask for, buddy? He says, you'll
ask what you will. What are you going to will? Not
your will. What did Christ ask for? Did
He ask for bread? Did He ask for help out of His
troubles? Not my will, but thy will be
done. I don't want what I want. I want
what you will for me. Will for me. If you abided me
in my words, your teaching, your spirit, attitude, and characteristics
are in you, you shall ask what you will. Your will will be changed,
and it shall be done unto you. Look at verse 16, the same chapter. You have not chosen me, I have
chosen you. and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit. That's how the Father is glorified,
and that's the will of God for you, even your sanctification.
Bear much fruit, and your fruit should remain, and that whatsoever
you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
It has something to do with the glory of God there, doesn't it?
Bearing fruit to the glory of God in the name of Christ, in
the spirit and attitude and the way that Christ would ask it.
Right? You see that? We've covered this
many times before. Many times before. Look at chapter
16, verse 23 and 24. In that day you shall ask me
nothing. Barely, barely I say unto you, whatsoever you shall
ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. He will
give it to you. Hitherto have you asked nothing
in my name. Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be
full. That your joy may be full. I talked this morning about the
love of God. who God loves. Who does God Almighty
love? He only loves those that love
Christ. Do you know that? Look back at chapter fourteen
again, verse twenty-one. I noticed these verses today.
These are striking. Chapter fourteen, verse twenty-one.
It says, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that
loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father. You see that, Henry George? He
that loveth me shall be loved of my Father." Doesn't that sound
like the love of God is conditional? That God only loves those that
love His Son? Does it sound like that to you? You say, well, it
may, but that's not what I mean. All right, go on, verse twenty-three.
If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will
love him. If a man love me, my Father will
love him. Well, I know it says that maybe
once, twice, All right, look over chapter sixteen, verse twenty-seven.
Chapter sixteen, verse twenty-seven. Look at this. The Father himself
loveth you because you have loved me. Did you ever notice those
verses? I just really noticed those today.
The love of God is in Christ Jesus, Romans eight thirty-nine.
And just as God Almighty only loves those who are in Christ
by faith, who love his Son, bow to his Son, trust, believe his
Son, nobody else. The wrath of God abides on everybody
outside of Christ. They have no part or lot in the
matter of God's love. Just as God loves only those
who love Christ and believe him, God Almighty only hears the prayers
of those who are in Christ by faith. There was a man, a leading member
of the Southern Baptist Convention several years ago. I hate to
call his name. I might get it wrong, but I think
I know who it was. At any rate, he was a leading
man. I think he was president at the time. And he made the
statement. He said, God Almighty does not hear the prayer of the
Jew. Do you remember that? That's a true statement. What
he was saying, what he was saying is, you've got to be a believer
in Christ. You've got to have faith in the
Christ, the Messiah, Christ. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Christ, the one mediator between God and men. And he said,
God doesn't hear the Jew just because he's a Jew. God only
hears those who are Jews inwardly, those true believers. And he
was, boy, they just about tarred and bedded that man, Lincoln. Well, that's what I'm saying
tonight. God Almighty only hears the prayers of those who know
and trust and believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody else. You say, what about a man who's
a sinner and just calls on God? Well, God will point him to Christ
real fast and show him that God's not going to have anything to
do with him except he get to Christ. That's the work of the Holy Spirit
to show that man first Christ, right? All right, now what does
it mean? What does it mean to pray in
the name of Christ? He said, Ask and you shall receive. And he says in other places that
you must ask in his name. Ask and it shall be given unto
you. What does it mean to ask in the name of Christ? Well,
it's not just reciting words in the name of Jesus. That's
not it. It's asking the authority of.
because of who Christ is. It's to ask upon the person and
the work of Christ what he did. It's to ask in the same spirit
and attitude and motive as Christ did. And like I said, he gave
us the form and the essence of prayer over there in Matthew
6. But all requests can be found in that prayer. All requests
that are going to be granted, that is. Everything God is going
to hear from you and grant from you is going to have its root
in that prayer there in Matthew 6. Everything. The glory of God,
the glory of Christ and his gospel, our temporal needs, our spiritual
welfare, intercessory prayer for others, and praise to God. More praise. But he says here,
ask. Ask. Ask. Our sister Vicki one day quoted
that verse to me, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. We have to ask by faith in Christ,
in the spirit and attitude and motive of Christ, because whatsoever
is not of that attitude and that motive and that spirit is sin,
is sin. Because we generally ask to consume
it upon our own lust, don't we? Without any thought to what God's
will is, what God's Word says, right? Generally, generally. But he says, Ask and it shall
be given to you. And then he goes on. Keep going.
Seek, and you shall find. Ask, and it shall be given to
you. What shall be given to you? Well, let's go on. I'll give
you the answer in a little bit. Seek, and you shall find. Seek
what? Well, as I just quoted, James
said, You have not because you ask not. And when you do ask,
you ask amiss. You ask wrong. You ask wrong. Men and women generally, and
we're all guilty of this, generally ask selfish, worldly, covetous
things without God's will or glory in our mind, without our
spiritual good in mind. And the same thing holds true
for this seeking. What are people seeking for generally?
What are you seeking for? What are you looking for? Seek
means to look, to strive after. What are you after in this life? What are we seeking after? Well,
most people are seeking after health, wealth, happiness, right? The things of this world. Fame
and fortune, if you will. Isaiah chapter 8, verse 19. Preach
from it one time. It says, They seek unto them
that have familiar spirits. These familiar, these blasphemous
prophets, false prophets today. They go out to keep to themselves
teachers having itching ears. Tell us something good. Tell
us what God will give us. Tell us what this sugar daddy
up in heaven is going to give me if I just say the magic words,
right? They seek unto them that have
familiar spirit, and wizards that peep. Prophets, oh, tell
us what's going to happen next week, next year, what's going
to happen in my life. Now, you see on TV, now they
have these fortune-tellers, or what is it, your soothsayers,
I can't think of the word, have this whole channel devoted to
what? Psychic! seeking unto wizards that peep. But it goes on to say, should
not a people seek, can anybody quote it? Should not a people
seek unto their God? I've said before that that's
the reason people never can find happiness and satisfaction in
this world, because when man lost The presence of God Almighty
in the garden, he's been looking for something ever since. And
he doesn't know what it is and he can't find it. But the Scriptures
tells us what it is and where it's found. The presence of God. Fellowship of God. Should not
a people, should not people seek unto their God. That's where
all happiness is found. Where all true health, spiritual
health, no matter how healthy we are, no matter how many how
much we, what extremes we go to to make this body healthy,
we're gonna die. We're gonna die. We need spiritual
help, don't we? We need to live forever. Not
on this planet, but with God. Men, most people don't find God. He says, seek and you shall find.
Most people don't find God because they're not seeking Him. Number
one, they're not seeking Him. Seeking everything. Number two,
most people don't find God because they're seeking Him for all the
wrong reasons. Seeking Him for all the wrong
reasons. He said, I'll not be found in you. I'm not going to
be your sugar daddy. I'm not just going to come at
your back and call it. When you get in trouble, get
on the hospital bed, get all down and out, and you just holler
at me, and I'll come like a dog. God's not that way. He won't
do it. Will He? No way. I said that to a man who was
on his deathbed. I said, that is, that you don't
just seek God when you're about ready to die. You seek God all
your life. It may be that he may be found
in you. He doesn't have to be, though.
Well, he sure doesn't have to come when you call, just when
you get in trouble, though. And they seek God as a last resort. Well, everything else is failed.
Try God, you know. That's blasphemy of the high
soul. And they seek God in all the
wrong places, don't they? Seek Him in the wrong places.
Don't seek Him in this word. He says, I've written a book.
Read it. Now, I don't need that. I'll
go someplace else. I'll go here, go over there. You'll not find
it. All right, go on. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Now, the word knock here means
to rat. Now, that's not rap that you
hear on the radio, girls. That's a bunch of, well, claptrap,
as the old writers used to say. I think that's where we got the
short, short version of that, claptrap, rap. No music to it. Anyway, the word knob means rap,
rap. Now, if someone is home, If someone
is in the house and you knock, in this sense here, Christ says
if somebody's home and you knock, you rap, they'll answer you. All right, now you're going to
somebody's house, okay? You want an audience with this
person. No, they must not be home. Is that what you're going
to do? You want in. You want to see
this person. You've got a desperate need. You want in there. The word here means to rap. You ever had anybody knock on
your door late at night or early in the morning, huh? And they
wouldn't go away? Huh? What do you do? Oh, she'd go away. And you roll
over, pull the cover over you. What are you going to do? You're going to get up and let
them in. Well, look over at Luke chapter
18 with me. This is the exact same thing the Lord shows us
here in Luke chapter 18. And if you'll notice the tense
here of these verbs, ask, seek, knock, they're present tense,
right? Not past tense, not a one-time thing. And you quit. It's a continual thing. That's
what he said there. He said, He that asketh, he that
seeketh, he that loveth. Luke 18, he gives this parable
of the importunate widow. Do you know what the word importunate
means? I do. I've got it written down
right here. I looked it up. Importunity means to press with
frequent solicitation or application urged with troublesome frequency. In short, it means to keep on
keeping on. Keep doing it until you drive
the person crazy. And this is the parable here.
Luke 18, the Lord says, He spake a parable unto them to this end,
that men ought always to pray and never quit. He said, saying
there was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded
man. He was an ungodly, wicked judge.
He didn't care about anybody but himself. There was a widow
in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine
adversary. Now, she either had debts she
couldn't pay or whatever, and he would not. The judge would
get her out of here, he said. But afterward, he said within
himself, Though I fear not God, I don't care for God, God's laws,
nor do I regard man, I don't care who I do what to, yet because
this widow troubleth me. Evidently, Brother Henry, she
kept coming back, kept coming back. Can I see the king today? Can I see the judge? Can I see
the judge?" Every day she was on his doorstep. Judge, I need
help. Get her out of here next day. Judge, please. Call him on the
phone. Judge, I'm not going to leave you alone until you help
me. And he said, she's troubling
me. I will avenge her lest by her continual coming, her importunity,
she's going to weary me. She's driving me crazy. And the Lord said, Don't you
hear what that unjust judge said? A man who didn't care for anybody
or anything but himself, unjust? What about the God who cares
for people? Shall not God, who really cares
and loves His people and has their good in mind and their
best interest in mind, His little darlings, the apples of His eye,
His precious little jewels, shall He not avenge His own elect,
which cry day and night unto Him. We feel like we're doing
that. We're not. We're not crying day and night. It just seems
like it takes a long time to answer. Did you ever lay in bed
at night as a little child and cry? Do you ever remember crying
yourself to sleep? I do. I do. I remember crying
and crying. It felt like I'd cried for six
hours on end, nonstop, till there was no more tears. And finally,
Mom or somebody would come in. Do you remember that? Well, I
probably hadn't been crying more than 10 or 15 minutes, but it
seemed like I'd been crying all night. And we do the same thing. We beg and ask God and plead
with God, and it would seem like He's never going to answer me.
But it hadn't really been that long until He answers you. I tell you, Christ said He will
avenge them speedily. When the Son of Man, when Christ
comes back to the earth, shall He find faith on the earth? Is
He going to find anybody like that? Is He going to find anybody
really asking, seeking, knocking? Is He going to find anybody seeking?
Is He going to find us sleeping? Huh? Didn't Christ say that? Look back a couple of pages,
Luke 16. Look at verse 16. I preached
from this one before. Luke 16, 16. The law and the
prophets were until John. And since that time, the kingdom
of God is preached, and every man—that is, every man who wants
in the kingdom, every woman who wants in the kingdom of God—pushes
into it. The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force. Since that time,
the kingdom of God is preaching. Every man presses into it. Oh, well, I'm going to be saved.
I'm going to be saved. No way. I've got to have it. Let me in.
Let me in. I'll not let you go until you
bless me. Pressing, pressing into it. I gave this illustration.
You may remember it. Any of you play basketball? Back
in school, I did. That was probably my best sport. I was pretty good. I wasn't very
tall, I wasn't very big. That's when I started taking
all those pills and buying things to stretch on, trying to get
tall. Didn't work. Didn't work. But anyway, I was
little, I was small, but I was faster than anybody on the court.
Faster than anybody there. And they'd send me in, particularly
at times when the score was pretty close and we needed the ball.
The other team had the ball. And they sent me in. Get the
ball. And what we would do was what
was called a full court press. You ever do that? Full court
press. I loved it. I drove that man
in front of me crazy. I was like glue on his back,
you know, until we got the ball. The kingdom of God is preached,
and men who hear about it and hear about Christ and hear about
this salvation, they've got to have it, and they're not going
to quit until they have it. They press, a full court press. Now, sitting back on your hands, Well, Christ said, if anybody
asks, seeks, and knocks in this way, they'll receive, they'll
find, and it'll be opened unto them. Watch. Look back at the
text. Look back at the text now. He
goes on to explain. What will be opened unto them?
What will they receive? What will they find? Look at
9 and 10, verse 9 and 10. This is going to be a blessing
to you if you stay with me. OK, verse 9 and 10. 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? Dad, would you fix me something
to eat? Sure, son. Here's a rock. Chew on it. What if your dad
said that to you, Luke? Dad, I'm hungry. Could I have
something? Yeah, here's a stone. Go break your teeth out. Wouldn't be much of a dad, but
you wouldn't ask him again. Maybe what he cooks is tough
as leather. Mom, have you fixed my lunch
for school? Yeah, honey, it's in there. And
she gets to school and she opens it up and there's a rattlesnake
inside. Our Lord is using a ridiculous
thing like this to show the absurdity of this. If that man or if that
woman, if they're any kind of loving father or mother at all,
they'll give the things that are asked for an equal thing. What things? What things? What'd He say? Bread and fish. and fish. Those are good things. Those are two basic food groups,
aren't they? Bread and fish. Good things. Nourishing things. Wholesome
things. Needful things. Profitable things. Things that
are good for you. I don't like that. It's good for you. It's good for you. You know that
we generally, like I was quoting James, he said you ask amiss.
You know we generally ask in the opposite way. Think about
it. We generally ask exactly the
opposite of what the Lord said we should ask for. Father, can
I have a stone? In other words, we ask for things
that weigh us down. Weights that easily beset us.
Don't we? We ask for things that will burden
us down. Things that will worry us, things
that will bother us, things that will take our mind and heart
away from God, things that will fill us full of sorrows and everything.
And the good and wise Heavenly Father says, no, but I'll give
you bread. Can I have a rock to play with?
No, but I'll give you bread. Here's bread. Here's Christ.
Here's Christ, the bread of life. That's what you really need.
You can't have this hard, cruel world, but you can have Christ,
the soft and tender Savior. Okay, Father, but can I have
a serpent? I'm going to play with snakes. Can I have this desire or that
desire? Lord, I want to marry this woman.
She might rise up and bite you, poison you. Can I have this husband? Can I have this job, this house?
Go here, go there. Can I have this pleasure? These
may be things that will rise up and bite you and drain the
spiritual life out of you, poison you with their godless venom
and evil influence. Right? Things of this world.
Can I have this? Can I have that? And if you gave
it to a stand, it would fill us full of its venom until we
forget God. And he says, No, you can't have
a snake to play with. But I'll give you fish. I'll
give you meat." What did Christ say about what was meat? What
is meat? He said, My body is meat indeed. He said, I've got
meat to eat that you don't know of. You need to know about it.
My body is meat indeed. Meat to eat that you know not
of. The Father sends the gospel to
you. He doesn't give you the riches of Egypt. He gives you
the riches of Christ. The riches of Christ. The gospel. Good hearted prayer. rib stick
and grub. You men, we like to have macho
men. Woman, and she fixes you. Your
real men don't eat quiche, do they, Rick? They don't eat scrambled
egg pie for dinner. My, my, my wife tried that on
me the first couple years we were married. Pulled up my belt,
you know. That won't do, woman. I gotta
have some rib-stickin' grub, you know. Something that'll harden
my arteries, you know. Party fair, rib-stickin' grub.
Well, in a sense. It didn't mean to be cute, but
we gotta have something that'll really stick. Something to really
meet a need. Something that won't leave us
hungry. Heart-mending food. Heart-mending food. And the Lord
says here, I've got meat for you to chew on. Chew on this
a while. Nourishment to your soul. Not
some little pitiful little sermon that some fella gets up and preaches
on it. No, He tells you about the excellency
of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That covenant of
grace. That sure and successful redemption. The person, the work
of Christ. All of these things. The unsearchable
riches of Christ. You can't have what you want.
but I'll give you what you need." That's a wise parent, isn't it,
Jeanette? You can't have what you want, but you can have what
you need. But in time... Have I told you
this story? When I was about... I hesitate
to say this because none of these kids are going to eat their green
beans after I tell this. But I didn't like green beans
when I was growing up. I was about Andrew's age, I guess, and I
didn't like green beans. I was sitting there at the table
and my dad said, Their mom was trying to get me to eat my green
beans. And I wouldn't eat them. I'd fiddle around, play around.
Finally, Dad spoke up. I said, you know, when Dad, you
better do it. Eat your green beans. Well, I
stuck a big fork in there. He loaded the fork. And I stuck
it in there. And I threw up. On my plate. You know what my
dad said, Rick? He said to my mom, he said, don't
you ever make him eat green beans again. Don't ever. Rule number one in this house.
But you know what now? I love green beans. I grow them. Can't get enough
of them. We can them. Got them coming
out of our ears. I'll go string them if I have
to. And in time, a child grows up
into a young man, into an adult, and the things that are needful
for him, Brother Terry, is what he wants. God changes his wants
around. For he loves green beans. He
gets tired of sweets. He wants green beans. He wants
Christ. Not the world, but all its sweets. And in time, our wants begin
to be our needs. But you know something? Here's
the goodness of our kind Heavenly Father. Brother Charles, most
of the time, he gives you over and above that what you need.
He begins to give you what you want. And what a husband gives
you, a good one. Well, most of you got a good
one. a wife, a child, a home, a job. Doesn't he? He just opens up the windows
of heaven, pours them out, pours them out. Seek ye first, though,
the kingdom of God and His righteousness, which is, who is Christ, and
all these things will be added to you. That's a promise. That's
a promise. Seek to win Christ, be found
in Him, know Him, be conformed to Him. Seek forgiveness of sins. Seek, though. Seek. It's a lifelong
activity, and it's urgent. And all these things will be
added to you, food and raiment and some extras, even. You know
the Heavenly Father knows how to deal with each child accordingly,
though. He's all-wise. You parents, you could have several,
three or four, or eight. You know the the characteristics of each child. You know the make-up, their psychological
make-up and their wants and their needs of each child, if you're
a good parent, you do. You study and so forth. And you
know how to deal with each one of them accordingly. And you
may be able to give this one that, but not this one the same
thing. Right? You may be able to give an abundance
of something to this one, but not this one. According to the
wisdom that lies within you, you treat each child accordingly.
Right? Same way with the heavenly Father.
Now God knows who to give what to. He knows who to give what to.
He knows who not to give what to. Doesn't He? He's all right. What do you have? You have all
you need. If God gave you more, it might
be bad for you. I know it would. I know it would. Right? Except faith, more faith. Ask for that. Ask for an abundance
of that. And a wise parent knows what to give, how much, and to
which child. Even us ignorant people know
that much. Let's look at verse eleven. If
you then, being evil, you're evil. Now, there's some
of you in here that are sweet, dear people. I just think of
you and I think of you as just a tremendous, loving, sweet,
kind, helpful parent you must be. But, you know, really, we're
evil. I don't care how sweet you appear
to be to men and women, you're evil. We're all evil. But you
had the propensity in us, Jimmy, to be selfish, even with our
children. proud, sinful, hateful, spiteful,
vengeful, vindictive, soon angry, impatient. We grow easily irritable
with our children, don't we? We do love them, don't we? We
love them, but it's easy for us to grow irritable with those
that we love, right? But we know how to give some
good gifts to them. He says, if you then, being evil,
know how to give good things, good gifts unto your children,
give good gifts. We want what's best for our children,
and Luke gets what Your teacher was teaching Sarah and Jennifer,
that's what she was teaching you this morning, wasn't she?
That your parents will always give you what is best. Your friends won't always do
that. You remember that, Jennifer? She was teaching this morning.
Your friends won't always tell you what's best. They'll tell
you what they want you to do so that you and them can get
in trouble together. But your parents will never say
anything but what is absolutely the best for you to keep you
out of trouble. Right? Absolutely the best. Good
gifts. What's best. You want to make
them happy. These are blessed words. How much more? I started to name this message,
How Much More. If you are an ignorant, poor,
pitiful excuse for a parent's merit, pardon me, how much more? And if you know what you want
to do what's best for your child, how much more? Shall your father
in heaven, who is too wise to err, too good to be mean, give
good things to them that ask him? What things? Good things. Good things. What things? Right
things. Good things. Good things. What things? Right things. Good things. What's good? Him
not much good in this world. Tell you that. But he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with Christ freely give us all things in Christ? Of God
are you in Christ, here we go again, who has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, everything you
need, everything you need, spiritual things, blessed things, eternal
things, and it's all in and through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and all of these things. Peace, love, joy, happiness,
contentment, comfort, rest, strength, assurance. Real quickly, now,
I won't keep you much longer. Real quickly, turn over to Luke
11 with me. Luke chapter 11. Luke 11. Here's another version
of what our Lord is saying here, and He uses a different thing
here. Luke chapter 11. He says something
a little bit different here. How much more shall your Father
give good things unto them Which asks him, Luke 11, verse 13,
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? The Holy Spirit. That's
the best thing He can give to you, dear. His Spirit. The Spirit takes the things of
Christ and shows them to you, comforts your sinful heart, restless
and troubled heart, conforms you to the image of Christ. We
need this presence. Take not thy Holy Spirit from
me," David said. And in closing, let me quit in
saying this. Back to the text. Back to the
text of Matthew seven. I'll quit. He said in verse twelve, Therefore,
all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do
you even so to them. This is the law and the prophets.
This is the law and the prophets. Do these things in turn to others.
Love is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. Now, I
got a blessing in thinking about this. Psalm 103.13 is one of
my favorite verses of Scripture in all the Bible. Anybody quote
that? Psalm 103.13. Like as a father. pitieth his children, so the
Lord pitieth them that fear him. Like as a father pitieth his
children. That's pity of all. He pities
you, Barbara. You're pitiful, aren't you? Pity
of all. You need pity, don't you? I need
pity. This isn't pity. It's full of
pity. Like as a father. Like as a good father. Like as
the best father. Like as a All wise father, pitieth
his children. And Christ says here, he says,
God the Father will answer you. And give him what's best. I don't
know what each and every one of you need. I don't know what
anybody in here needs. I do, spiritually speaking. Idealistically,
I know we all need Christ. Everybody in here has that need.
But I don't know what your particular need is. God does. God does. And Christ says, ask. Called upon me. Didn't He? The other night, Hannah was laying
up in bed. I use her quite often in illustrations.
I hope you don't mind. But the Lord, I believe the Lord
gave her to me so I could use her as illustration. She was
laying up in bed the other night, and I was downstairs reading
on the couch, and she was supposed to be asleep. Sometimes you don't
go to sleep when you're supposed to. But she was laying up in
bed past her bedtime, you know, and I heard this little word,
Daddy. And I, you know, I, I didn't
answer her. You remember that woman, the
circumcision woman that came to Christ and he didn't answer
her? I didn't answer her. You know, she's supposed to be
asleep. I didn't answer her. She kept crying, Daddy. You know, I can't resist that
name. There's no way a team of wild
horses couldn't keep me on the couch. That's the dearest, sweetest
word to these ears. Daddy. And I went up there, and
you know what she wanted? It wasn't of all things to get
me up off the couch for. She wanted a kiss goodnight. But I just gushed over her. I
kissed her, and I kissed her, and I kissed her, and I kissed
her. I like to kiss her. I'm glad
she told me to kiss her. You get the illustration? You
reckon? Do you reckon? God Almighty loves me like that. You reckon that when I call,
Abba, Father, Daddy, I need him? You reckon
he'll answer me? Huh? If you then, being evil,
you're looking at an evil man, rush to the aid of my child,
how much more shall your Abba, Father, what do you need,
Son? Just a kiss goodnight. Just a kiss goodnight. Psalm 35, just say unto my soul,
You're my salvation. Right? I've got everything I
need. I just need reassurance that You're my Heavenly Father. How much more? How much more? Okay, let's sing in closing.
What did I write down as closing hymn, Sherrod? I think we already sang this. Thirty-nine is what I've got
written down. Number thirty-nine. Oh, we've already sung that.
Let's sing, let's sing 298. Do what? Oh, yeah, that's the
one. That is the one. Thank you. Number
40. Number 40. This is the one. This is, this
applies. I knew there was one. I appreciate
you reminding me. This is so applicable and probably
my favorite song in the whole book. Stand with me. Let's sing
this.