is not that I did you. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. I'm reading from Luke chapter
11, beginning in verse 9. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He says, and I say unto you. And he's speaking to you. And I say
unto you, ask and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall
find. Knock, and it shall be opened
to you. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. 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? Of course not. 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?" I've entitled this message, Asking,
Seeking, and Knocking. We live in a world that is filled
with doubts, fears, anxieties, insecurities. Every one of us
is oppressed by something. So what a blessing it is for
the one who cannot lie to give us this precious promise. Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. knock and it shall be opened
to you." The greatness of a promise lies chiefly in the one who made
the promise. This promise is made by the only
one who can truly be called the promise keeper. He's the one
who always keeps his promise and has never broken a promise. He can never lie. He can never
be wrong. The one who made this promise
is the one who has all authority. He said, I say unto you, there's
the authority of it. I say unto you, the one who cannot
lie, the one who has power to make my will come to pass. Now,
when we ask, we're asking a person. When we seek, we're seeking a
person. When we knock, we're knocking
on a person's door, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, first, I want
to speak to the unbeliever. Somebody without a drop of grace. Someone who, if you would die
right now, you'd go to hell. You're not saved. You don't know
the Lord. You don't know what it is to
believe. You don't know what it is to repent. You don't know
what it is to love. You are an unbeliever. That's
the person I'm speaking to right now. Ask. Seek. Knock. Now you ask for what you
don't have. I don't have salvation. Ask for
it. Lord, save me. I don't know what
it means to believe. Ask for faith. Lord, I don't
even know what it means to believe. Will you give me faith? I don't
know what it means to repent. Will you grant me repentance?
Would you forgive me of my sins? Would you give me a new heart? Would you give me a place in
heaven? Ask and you shall receive. You see, everyone that asks receives. That's the promise. Those in
hell all have this in common. They never asked the Lord to
save them. Now, they might have used that
term when they were scared, when they thought they were going
to die or thought they were in trouble. Lord, save me. but they
were not asking him to save them. They were striking a deal. Lord, if you do this, I'll do
that. If you respond this way, I'll do that. That's not asking
the Lord. Somebody that does that has never asked the Lord
to save them. Now you seek. that which you
don't know where it's at. That's why you're seeking. You
don't know where it's at. You're seeking the Lord. You
don't know how to find him, but you're seeking him. Lord, show
yourself to me. Reveal yourself to me. Make yourself
known. Don't leave me to myself. Show
yourself. I can't find you unless you show
yourself to me. We're seeking the Lord. Everyone that seeketh, findeth. David said, when thou said, seek
ye my face, my heart said, thy face, O Lord, will I seek. Now, everybody in hell has this
in common. Not one person in hell ever sought
the Lord. That doesn't mean they weren't
religious, didn't mean they didn't try to perform good works, but
they never truly sought the Lord, because all who seek the Lord
find him. And the Lord says, knock. and it shall be opened to you."
Now, what's a door for? It's to let people in. People
who are on the outside, this door lets them in. And the Lord
says, you knock on the door and it shall be opened to you. You perceive the doors closed,
so you knock and you knock long and loud with importunity. Now,
in Luke 11, verse five, right before the verses I just
read where it said, ask and you shall receive, in verse five,
and he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend and
shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, friend, lend
me three loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey has come
to me and I have nothing to say before him. And he from within
shall answer and say, trouble me not. The door is now shut
and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.
I say unto you, though he'll not rise and give him because
he's friend, yet because of his importunity. his shameless persistence. He makes a pest of himself. He
continues to knock. He continues to knock. He continues
to knock. He won't let the man go to sleep.
The Lord says, I say unto you, though he will not rise and give
him because he's his friend, because of his importunity, he
will rise and give him as many as he needeth, and I say unto
you, ask and it shall be given to you. Do so with importunity,
shameless persistence. Seek, you shall find. Knock,
keep knocking, and it shall be opened to you. My unbelieving
friend, the Bible teaches that God elected
a people to be saved before time began. Christ died for those
people and accomplished their salvation. When he said it is
finished, the salvation of the elect was completed. And God the Holy Spirit irresistibly
and invincibly calls those people to Himself. Now that great and
glorious truth that I just spoke never kept anyone from asking,
seeking, and knocking. You ask the Lord to save you. Don't think that there's something
preventing you because of God's sovereignty that He won't let
you know, you ask the Lord to save you. You seek the Lord's
face. You knock on the door of His
grace, and it shall be opened to you. That's His promise. Everyone that asks, receives. And he that seeks, finds. And
to him that knocketh, it shall be opened to him. And here's
what I love about this. This is given in the form of
a command. You are commanded to ask. God commands you to ask. God commands you to seek. God
commands you to knock. Your right comes with His command. He told you to do it. You say
to Him, Lord, you said, ask and you shall receive. You said that.
You said that. It's His command to you, and your right to do
so comes with His command, and your ability to do so comes with
His command. You know, the Lord said to a
man with a withered hand, stretch forth thy hand. The man couldn't
do it, it was withered. But when the Lord told him to
do it, you know what he did? He stretched forth his hand. You see, the ability to do comes
with the command. When God said, when Christ said,
Lazarus, come forth, well, Lazarus was dead. He couldn't do it,
but he could do it when God gave him life. He that was dead came
forth. The ability comes with the command. So my unbelieving friend, ask and you'll receive. Seek
and you'll find. Knock and it shall be open to
you. There's never been anyone who
sought the Lord in vain. There's never been anyone who
asked the Lord to save them that he said no to. It hasn't happened
and it will not happen for you if you ask, if you seek, if you
knock. Now, this passage of Scripture,
while it's for the unbeliever, it's spoken specifically to the
believer, because he speaks to those who have God as their heavenly
Father. So much more will your heavenly
Father give to you. This is spoken to his children. Now, he had already instructed
them on prayer, teach us to pray. He said, when you pray, say,
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Give us what we need. And forgive
us our debts, our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned
against us. And lead us not into temptation. Don't let us even
be tempted. We're afraid of what will happen if we are. And deliver
us from evil. Deliver us from the evil one.
Deliver us from this present evil world. Most especially deliver
me from myself. Save me from myself. Deliver
me from my evil. And he taught us to pray that
way. And he taught us to pray so with importunity, with shameless
persistence. Ask, seek, knock. If you ask, you'll receive. If
you seek, you'll find. If you'll knock, it'll be open
to you. Now, does that mean that whatever we ask the Lord for,
we're gonna get? Does that mean if I ask him for a million dollars,
all of a sudden a million dollars is gonna show up on my porch?
Does that mean if I'm sick and I ask him to heal me that he
always does? No, he doesn't. Now, this is not some kind of
blank check or whatever you ask for, you'll get. It's not talking
about that at all. I think of Paul, who had that
thorn in the flesh that he asked three times that it would be
taken from him, and all his answer was is, my grace is sufficient
for you. The thorn was never removed. It's because of what?
It's because that's what he needed. Now, there are many things that
I've asked for that I thought I needed, and I certainly wanted,
and I asked the Lord to give me these things, and he hadn't
done it. You know why? because it wouldn't have been
for my good. Whatever it is I asked for that I didn't get, it would
have been harmful for me. It would have been detrimental
to me. You see, he only gives good things. How much more shall your heavenly
father give good things to them that ask him? Now, what we have
first in this thing of asking is a need. Oh, what a blessing it is to
be needy. Ten times David said, the man
after God's own heart, I'm poor and I'm needy. I don't have anything
and I have great needs. I seek that which I have need
of. Now, the first beatitude When
our Lord is describing Christian character, His blessed are the
poor in spirit. The first way a Christian is
described is by what he does not have. He's poor and he has
great needs. Now, this is not talking about
asking for a bigger house. Need is the word. What was said
of the Laodiceans, whom the Lord said, I'm going to vomit you
out of my mouth? He said, you say we're rich and
increased in goods and have need of nothing. And you do not know
that you're poor and wretched and miserable and blind. need. I need him. I need his grace. I need his mercy. I need him to have mercy on me. I need this. I need my sins forgiven. I need grace to persevere. I need grace to continue in the
faith. I need a new heart. I need the
grace to love my Heavenly Father. I need the grace to love my brothers
and sisters in Christ Jesus. I need His grace to believe,
to repent, to continue in the faith. I have need. I need the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I love that song. I need the
precious Jesus, for I am full of sin. My soul is dark. and guilty. My heart is dead
within. I need the cleansing fountain
where I can always flee the blood of Christ, most precious, the
sinner's perfect plea. Now, I don't have any doubt that
the Bible teaches what is known as the doctrine of grace. The
doctrine of grace can be memorized by this acrostic tulip. Total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance
of the saints. I have no doubt that the Bible
teaches that. You can't read the Bible and
deny any of those holy truths, that men are dead in sins, that
God elected a people before time began to be saved, that Christ
died for the elect and accomplished their salvation, that God the
Holy Spirit irresistibly and invincibly gives them life, and
that they will persevere all the way to the end. The Bible
teaches that. Now, it's one thing to see that
the Bible teaches that, and it's another thing to need that to
be so. I need for God to choose me. I need Christ to die for me and
put away my sins. I need God's grace to be invincible
and irresistible. I won't be saved if it's not.
I need to be preserved by him so I can persevere. Need. Ask. You ask for what you need. Ask, and it shall be given to
you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be given
to you. Now this is all given in the
form of a command. Every child of God is commanded
to ask, to seek, to knock. Now, ask, this word ask is the
same word translated in the New Testament in the King James Version,
beg, crave, desire, require. Now a beggar begs because he
has no way of getting anything unless it's given to him. A beggar
can't work for a living. His only way of getting anything
is for somebody to freely give it to him. So he begs, oh, give
it to me. beg and you shall receive. And this is not talking about
God wanting us to wallow and I'm not gonna give it unless
you beg. That's not the attitude. We ask, but it's also beg. Lord, if you don't give it to
me, I won't have it. That's why I need it. It is desire. Oh, how I desire His mercy and
His grace. It's translated crave. Oh, we
crave forgiveness. We require salvation. Ask and you shall receive. Seek the Lord. What's more important
than seeking the Lord? Nothing. Seek the Lord. Seek His face. Seek His presence. Seek Him. If you seek Him, you'll
find Him. That is His promise. You're commanded
to knock. You knock on a closed door. And
how hard you knock will depend upon how desperate you are for
the door to be open to you. Oh, if you must come in, you'll
knock long and you'll knock hard. And you know, doors have knockers.
You know what it is to use the knocker on a door? It makes it
knock louder. You know, the Lord's given us
some knockers. Here's one of them. Lord, you said to knock.
That's why I'm doing it. I'm only doing what you told
me to do. You said knocking, it shall be open to you. I'm
knocking, expecting it to be opened. Not by way of presumption,
but simply because of what you said. Knock and it shall be opened
to you. And I'm pleading nothing but
the name of thy son. I'm not saying knock, open up
to me because I deserve it. I'm saying open up to me for
his sake. I'm pleading nothing but him,
his blood, his righteousness, his intercession. Knock and it
shall be opened to you. And your right to ask, your right
to seek, your right to knock with importunity is his because
he commanded you to. He said, ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened to you." Oh, what a precious promise this
is. He says in verse 10, for everyone
that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. That is his promise. Now somebody
is thinking, I have asked for things. and got no answer. I've sought and didn't find. I've knocked and the door wasn't
open to me. Now I want to ask you this question. Am I to believe the word of God
or am I to believe what you say? Notice the Lord says, he that
asketh, he continues asking. He doesn't stop. He continues
asking. He that asketh receiveth. He
that seeketh. He didn't seek and then stop
seeking. He continued seeking. He that knocketh. He didn't knock
a few times and when the door didn't open, he just turned around
and walked away. He continues to knock. He continues. Now,
you can't say, I sought and didn't find, you're still to be seeking
until you do find. You're still to be knocking until
the door is opened. You're still to be asking until
you do receive. You can't quit. You must continue. Like Jacob wrestling with the
angel and said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. He had to have the blessing of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, I won't let you
go. wrestled with him on through the night. And it could be that
you never asked in the first place. You tried to bargain with
God. You said, Lord, if you do this,
I'll do that. If you give me this, I will start
straightening up my life, and I'll start becoming a better
person, and I'll start giving more. All these promises we make,
I'll do this if you do that, that's not asking the Lord. That's
trying to bargain with the Lord. He will not be bargained with.
God doesn't negotiate. We don't come into his presence
like that. No, we come asking for mercy, asking for grace,
not making empty promises that we'll never keep. No, we ask
for grace. That's the only way. It's not
bargaining. And it could be that we were not asking for good things. This is not asking for a bigger
house and a nicer car. Oh, no, the good things that
he gives are, well, anything we have, he gives us. If you
have a house, he gave it to you. If you have a car, he gave it
to you. The health you have, he gave it to you. The sickness
you have, he gave it to you. He's in control of everything. But when
he's talking about the good things he gives, he's talking about
things like the forgiveness of sins, justification. a new heart, faith, repentance,
on and on. These are the things we ask for.
These are the good things that He always gives. And here's why
He gives. Let's read in verse 11. He said, 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? Of
course not. Or if he's asked an egg, will
he offer him a scorpion? If your child asks you for an
egg, would you throw a scorpion on their plate that could sting
them? Of course not, you wouldn't dream of doing something like
that. Now look what the Lord says in verse 13, if you then
being evil. Now the Lord's speaking to his
children. He says, if you then being evil. Now if you came up
to me and said, you're evil, I'd probably get mad at you because
I would look at you judging me and looking at me from a, you
think you're better than me and morally superior, and I'd probably
get aggravated at that. And if I came up to you and said,
you're evil, you'd get aggravated. And well, you should. But when
the Lord says it, if you then being evil. That is the Lord's testimony
regarding all of his children. Paul said, when I would do good,
evil is present with me. That's just the truth. If you
then being evil, now I know if you're a believer, you have a
holy nature. This is what you are in and of
yourself, evil. And this is the Lord's testimony.
I'm glad he said it this way. When he says that to me, I say,
that's it. Yes. If you then being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children. If they ask you for
a piece of bread, you give them a piece of bread. If they ask
for a fish, you give them a fish. That's even better than bread.
And if they ask for an egg, that's luxurious. You give them that.
You delight in giving your children good things. Now, if you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him? Now, here's who I need. I need
the Holy Spirit. I need the Holy Spirit to enable
me to believe, to repent, to love, to continue in the faith,
to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe the
truth. I need the Holy Spirit. If I have the Holy Spirit, I
have all things. I have Christ. I have the Father.
I have all that Christ is. Oh, so How much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? So what I want to do right now,
Lord, I'm asking you, give me thy Spirit. All I am is flesh, and if I don't
have your spirit, it's over for me. Give me your spirit to believe
the gospel. Give me your spirit to trust
the Lord Jesus Christ and to rely on him. Give me your spirit
for all things. Oh, how we need God, the Holy
Spirit, and we ask. Everyone, now listen to this
promise. Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock,
and it shall be opened to you. Now, the Lord tells you, ask. What do I ask about everything? Ask, seek, and knock. With this promise, everyone that
asks for seeds, he that seeks finds, and everyone that knocketh,
it shall be opened to them. May I be an asker, a seeker,
and a knocker. To request a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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