We turn back to Matthew chapter
7. Verse 7. Ask. It shall be given you. Do you remember when James said
you have not because you ask not? Ask. And it shall be given you seek
and you shall find knock and it shall be opened to you. I wonder if anyone has ever thought,
I guess I must've been asking a miss because I've asked for
things and did not receive them. I've sought things and did not
find them. I've knocked and the door did
not seem to be opened to me. And perhaps this verse in some
measure has discouraged us greatly because we've not seen it in
operation in our lives. Is this a blank check? Ask whatever
you want. You'll get it. Well, you know,
it's not that because we have a record of Paul, the apostle,
where he asked three times that the thorn might be removed from
him. And he did not get what he asked
for. In my experience, I've asked
for many things, many things that I thought I needed, that
I thought would be for my spiritual good. And I did not get what
I asked for. Does this mean this promise is
not true? God forbid. God forbid. Let God be true in
every man. A liar. May the Lord be our teacher. As we consider this thing of
asking, seeking, and knocking. Now this ought to be the tenor
of our lives. And it will be if we're believers
asking, seeking and knocking. Now I have four points to this
message. The first point is a need. The second point is a command.
The third point is a promise. And the fourth point is a reason. Very simple. First, a need. A need. I am asking for what
I do not have and I need. I think it's interesting that
when the Lord begins this message known as the Sermon on the Mount,
what is the first description of a believer? First description. Blessed are the poor in spirit. They have nothing. A believer
is first of all, described, now listen to this. A believer is
first of all, described by what he does not have. Poor in spirit with great needs. I'm seeking that which either
I lost or that which I do not know where it is. And I need
it. I'm knocking upon a door that
is closed and I feel closed out and I want in and I want it open
to me and I want what's in it. I desire who is in it. I desire fellowship. I'm knocking
and I feel like I'm shut out. Now, there seems to be a greater
degree of urgency in each step. I go from asking to seeking,
to knocking because of a need. Now, David, the man after God's
own heart. Don't you want to have the heart
of David? I really, I want to, I want to have the heart of David. As a matter of fact, every day
I pray. This is something that's in my
prayer every day. Lord, make me to be a man after
thine own heart. That's what was said of David. Now I want to be there, don't
you? Do you know how David described himself more than any other description? 10 times he makes this description
of himself. I am poor and needy. I'm poor. There's so many things
that I do not have. And I have great needs. Now this is a beautiful description
of a believer. He is someone who has great needs. Not everybody's needy like this.
As a matter of fact, very few are needy like this. But a believer
is someone who has great needs. They need mercy. They need grace. They need God's favor. They need
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a thing of need.
Not just want, but need. Now in the context of the Sermon
on the Mount, the Lord begins with the Beatitudes. It's a description
of what a believer is. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn,
they mourn over sin. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after righteousness. He's giving these descriptions
of these, what a believer must be, but he can't attain unless
God does something for him. These beatitudes are not something
I can just up and decide to manifest. No, God's got to give them to
me. I have great needs. And then We're given a code of
conduct which is impossible for the natural man, like being angry,
not being angry with our brother without a cause. Have you ever
lived up to that? Not lusting in our hearts, having
our yay yay and our nay nay. Never, ever seeking retaliation. Loving our enemies. Not doing
what we do to be seen of men. Not laying up for ourselves treasures
on earth, but treasures in heaven. Forbidden to have worry or stress
or anxiety about anything. Not judging anybody for any reason. Not casting our pearls before
swine. And we see our failure in all
of these things and our need, our need, our need for mercy. Our need for grace. For obedience. Now this is not about asking
for a new car, but asking for mercy. Asking for grace. Asking for his loving kindness
and his favor toward me for Christ's sake. Asking for faith. Asking for repentance. Asking
for love. Asking for a new heart. Needy
is the word. I'll ask for that which I have
need of. And that's all I really ask for.
Needy is the word. Now, I want to ask you a question.
In this life, do we ever cease being poor in spirit? What'd the Lord say of the church
at Laodicea? What did they say? I'm rich. I'm increased with goods. And
I have need of nothing. And he said, you don't know that
you're poor and wretched and miserable and naked and blind. Oh, woe to us when we seek to
be poor. Is there ever a time that you
don't need to continue mourning, mourning over your sin? When's
the last time before God you mourned over your sin? and said with David, my sin is
ever, ever before me. Do we ever stop hungering and
thirsting after righteousness? Now you hunger and thirst after
something that in your experience, you don't feel like you have
it and you want it. And you cry out in this great need. Now we ask for what we need. Now I was thinking about this.
It's so real to me. Being. Being in and of myself. Totally depraved. I'm not just
using that as a theological term. I'm talking about the experience
of my own heart. Being a sinner. How I need God's election to
be unconditional. Because if he's got to find a
reason for me to do it, there won't be one. I need his electing
mercy. I need Christ's effectual redemption. It won't do me any good at all
if he could die for me and I'll wind up in hell anyway. I need
for his atonement to be successful, to actually put away my sin so
I don't have any. I need this. Oh, how I need for
His grace to be irresistible and invincible and conquer me,
a relentless grace that will not take no for an answer. I
need that. Oh, how I need to be preserved
by His grace so I persevere. You know, the doctrine of grace,
it's the doctrine of need, isn't it? It's the doctrine of need.
This is what I need from the depths of my heart. You ask,
for that which you need. I love that song. I need thee,
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 place. Oh, may the Lord deliver us from
ever losing this sense of need, this sense of hunger and thirst
after him. I asked for what I need. I seek
what I need and don't feel like I have it, but I want it and
I seek it. I knock on the door for that which I need. I don't
need to be healthy. I don't need to be wealthy. but
I need to have my sins forgiven. I need to have a new heart. I
need mercy and grace. This is about need. The Lord
said the whole need, not a physician, but they that are sick. It says
the Lord in Luke chapter nine, verse 11, he healed them that
had need. of healing. I'm one of them.
Lord, heal me. You ask for that which you have
need of. You feel like you don't have
it, but how you need it. Now here's the second point. A command. A command. Do you know that these words
ask Seek and find are all in the imperative. They are Christ
commanding that one with great needs. That one if you need,
Christ commands you, ask. Your right to ask is because
he commands you to. Seek, your reason to seek is
because he commands you to. Knock, your reason to knock,
your right to knock and to continue knocking is because he himself
commands you to. The ability to ask, the ability
to seek, the ability to knock comes with the command. I love it when the Lord said
to that man with the withered hand, he was withered up, I don't
know what it looked like, but he couldn't stretch it forth,
it was withered. And the Lord said, stretch forth thine hand.
He couldn't, it was withered. But when the Lord commanded him
to, he could. If the Lord commands you to ask,
you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna ask. If the Lord
commands you to believe, you know what you're going to do?
You're going to believe because the ability comes with the holy
command. He commands his people to ask,
to seek, and to knock. Now that word ask, it's also
translated, beg. I like that. Beg. I'm not too proud to beg. Crave. Desire. Require. That's the way the King James
translate those words. Beg for mercy because you have
nothing to pay for. Crave His grace. Desire forgiveness. Require salvation. You're right
to ask as He commands you to. You're commanded to seek. And
to not stop. To continue seeking. To be persistent. To don't give up. We're commanded
to knock. There's the closed door. We may
feel shut out, but Christ himself commands us to knock. Would you
turn with me for a moment to Luke chapter 11? 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
set before him. Now, picture what took place. You're in bed. You're asleep.
Somebody knocks on the door. I don't have anything in my house
to eat. I want to provide people with something to eat. They're
there. Could you give me three loaves? Back then, they didn't
have Kroger's open 24 hours a day. They didn't have the convenience
stores that we have. If you were gonna have it, somebody's
gonna have to give it to you. So he knocks on the door. Give
me these three loaves. Verse seven. And 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 unto you, I love when the
Lord says that, I say unto you. There's something so powerful
when he says this. I say unto you, though he will not rise
and give him because he's his friend, yet because of his importunity,
That word means shameless persistence. I said no. I said no. Think of that going on for 15
or 20 minutes. All right, here it is. I can't stand it any longer. Here's your bread. I say unto you that though he
will not rise and give him because he's a friend, Yet because of
his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
And I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you seek and you
shall find and knock and it shall be open to you." Here's the command
of Christ to all needy sinners. Ask. Ask right now. Ask the Lord to give you what
you need. Seek what you feel like maybe you've lost. Or maybe
you feel like you've never had it in the first place, but you
want to find it. Seek it. Knock on that door. Be persistent. Give the Lord no rest. Now that's the Lord's command
to you. Give him no rest. Are your children unsaved? Give
him no rest. Do you need mercy? Give him no
rest. And he commands us to do that. Don't worry about. Well, he'll
get, he commands us to seek him that persistently. Now here's
the promise given from the great promise keeper. Turn back to
our text in Matthew chapter seven, verse eight. For everyone, now listen to what
our Lord says. For everyone, no exceptions to
this rule. For everyone that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. Now here is a promise. From the
great promise keeper who never told a lie, he says, everyone
that asks, no exceptions. Everyone that asks receives and
everyone that seeks finds and notice it's something we're always
doing. We're always asking. We're always
seeking and we're always knocking. This isn't a one-time thing.
This is something that characterizes the life of the believer every
day. I'm always asking, I'm always
seeking, and I'm always knocking. And our Lord promised everybody
that does these things, their prayer shall be answered. Now somebody is thinking, but
I have asked, I've asked for many things that I thought would
be for my good. And I have not received. Well, one of two things are true.
First, you never really asked. You tried to bargain. You tried
to strike a deal. You tried to say, Lord, if you
do this for me, I'll do this. That's not asking. That's trying
to buy his favor. You don't come into the great
king of kings and try to offer him something. Do you think that
there's anything that you have that he could accept? No, we
don't come trying to strike a deal with the Lord God of heaven.
We come asking the great glorious God of heaven who's so rich.
We ask him. Or it could be that You were
not asking for good things. Notice what it says in verse
11, how much more shall your heavenly father, your father,
which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him. The heavenly father only gives
good things. Perhaps what we've been asking
for would not have been for our good. Here's an example. I don't know
how many times I've asked the Lord for victory over sin. And I want it too. I don't want to sin anymore.
I don't want to sin against my Redeemer and I don't know how
many times I've asked the Lord for victory over sin. Lord, give
me victory over this particular sin or that particular sin. Let
me commit it no more. Deliver me. Wouldn't that be
for my good? Wouldn't that be for my spiritual
good? For me to not sin anymore? Wouldn't that be for your glory?
I want grace to not sin. You know, John wrote these sayings
right on to you. that you sin not. That's to be
my ambition to never sin again. I ask the Lord for victory over
sin. And I feel like I end up getting
worse. I feel like I end up getting
worse. Not better, but worse. And I am driven To know that
the only hope that I have is that Jesus Christ died for me. Nothing else. I got nothing else
I can hold on to. That's it. My faith is this. All that I have is Christ Jesus,
the Lord. That's all I have. I have no
other plea before God. I can't talk about the victory
I personally have overseeing or anything I've done. only what
he has done. But you know what? The scripture
says this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith. And actually the Lord's answering
my prayer. I'm not in any way making an
excuse for any sin, but isn't it a blessing when you're made,
you're driven to look to Christ only and what peace there is
there, what joy there is there in looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Seek, and you shall find me. I think of what our Lord said,
you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all
your heart. Knock, and don't stop knocking
until the door is opened. We're continually asking, seeking,
and knocking. We never quit. And he who cannot
lie has promised, he that asketh, receiveth. He that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. There has never been a sinner
asking for mercy that was turned away. There's never been someone
who sought the Lord that didn't find him. There's never been
someone who knocked and the door of grace remained closed. This
is his promise. Now believe this promise. Now
here's maybe the most important point, the fourth point, the
reason why this is so. Look with me at verse 9 of Matthew
chapter 7. We've seen the need. We've seen the promise. Here's the reason this promise
is true. Verse 9. For what man is there
of you And the Lord is giving us a reason as to why when we
ask, we'll receive, and when we seek, we'll find, and when
we knock, it'll be open because we think, but look at me. How
could that be? Well, he gives us a reason as
to how this can be. For what man is there of you
whom if his son has bread, will it give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish? Will he
give him a serpent? Now I want to appeal to every
parent here, and you who will be parents one time. If your
child was hungry and he wanted something to eat, would you throw
him out a rock to eat? You wouldn't do that, would you?
You'd want to give him that which is good. Or if he asked for a
fish, would you throw him out a poisoned snake that could bite
him? You wouldn't do that to your
kids, would you? You love your kids, and you really, genuinely,
from your heart, want the best for them. You love your kids. You'll give them that which they
need, won't you? I mean, if they need it, you're
going to do everything in your power to make sure they have
that which they need. Everybody in here that's a parent
feels that way very, very strongly. You'll give your kids that which
they need. I'm committed to that. I mean,
that's more important to me than anything else. Take care of my
family. I want to do that. I mean, that's important. You
mothers, you want the best for your children. I know you do.
There's no doubt in my mind about it. And look what the Lord says
in verse 11. If you then being evil. Now Lord's talking to his children
here. He goes on to speak of your heavenly father. He's talking
to believers. He's talking to those who have the beatitudes. He's talking to those who ask,
who seek and who not. And he says, if you then being
evil. Do you find that offensive? When
the Lord says, if you then being evil, he's not even talking about
what you do right now. He's talking about your character, your character. If you then being evil. Now, if I say to you, you are
evil, I might be telling the truth,
but I'm doing it in a judgmental way, if I ever say it. You know,
anytime I say, if I'm having a disagreement with my wife,
I say, you're evil. Y'all ever do that? I'm doing
that in a judgmental, harsh way, and it's really not right. Although
it might be true. If you say to me, you're evil,
it's the truth. but I probably will take offense
to it. Well, I'm no worse than you are. But if he says it, if you then, this is the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking, if he says it, and this is how he defines
us, if you then, being evil, isn't that just so? If the Lord
says that to you, wouldn't you say, amen, that's me. He's got
me right now. If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, and you do. How much more shall your father
which is in heaven, he's not evil, he's altogether good, he's
altogether glorious. How much more shall your father,
which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him. Now, if you know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will the Lord God
be able to give good gifts to his children? Don't you love
it when the Lord says your father? I love that in the scriptures
where the where the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking, speaking
to his disciples. He talks about your father. You know, God is
my father. He's my father, Abba Father. He's my father through the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, he made me his son. Beloved, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on His name, which were born, not of blood, not
of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. He is my Father. Christ Jesus
has made him my father. Don't you love it when he says
your father? You know, he said when he was,
after he was resurrected, he said, I go to my God and your
God, I go to my father and your father. That's what he does.
How much more shall your heavenly father give good things? Oh, all he gives is good things. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter eight. Verse 31, what shall we then
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not? What could
possibly prevent him? from also freely giving us all
things. Whatever thing it is, whatever
good thing it is, justification, the forgiveness of sins, sanctification,
adoption, perseverance, whatever, mercy, grace, faith, repentance,
whatever that good thing is, how much more shall your heavenly
father give good things to them that ask? Now, I'm not trying to strike
a deal, but Lord, give me for Christ's sake, these good things,
the good things of the kingdom. All he gives is good things. And those good things he gives,
he gives to them that ask him. May the Lord make me and you
people who ask, people who seek, and people who knock. And I'm
not talking about a one-time thing. I mean that is the daily
bent of our lives. Asking for that which I don't
have and need. Seeking that which I've lost
probably my fault. I lost it. I don't have it anymore,
but I want it back Or I don't know where it's it and I gotta
have it. I need it Knocking for that door to be open, you know,
the lord Said to the church allowed to see you as a matter of fact,
let's turn there. Let's close with this turn to revelation
chapter three You know, this passage of scripture
absolutely scares me to death. I think this, and when a church
loses the spirit of God and it happens, the Lord leaves. Here's what takes place. Verse
14. And unto the angel of the church
of the Laodiceans write, these things saith the amen, the faithful
and true witness. the beginning of the creation
of God. I know thy works. That's the way he began every
one of these seven churches. I know your works, not what you
believe, not what you say, but your works that thou art neither
cold nor hot. Some are cold and they hate themselves
for it. Some are white hot for the glory
of Christ. And he says, I would that you
were cold or hot, but you're neither. So then, because thou
art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out
of my mouth. And here's what it is to be lukewarm.
Because thou sayest, I'm rich, I'm in good shape, don't worry
about me. I'm increased with goods. I have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art
wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest
be rich, and white raiment, the righteousness of Christ, that
thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do
not appear. Oh, how precious is that white
raiment to you and to me, the righteousness of the saints,
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. and anoint thine eyes with eye
salve that thou mayest see as many as I love." I want to be one of those people,
don't you? He doesn't love everybody. But he says, as many as I love,
I rebuke and I chasten. You see, whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth, and he scourges every son that he receives. I want to be somebody he rebukes,
don't you? I don't want to be rebuked, but I don't want to
be without rebuke. I don't want to be without chastisement. That
would mean I'm not a son. As many as I love, I rebuke and
chase and be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and
open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and
he with me. To him that overcometh will I
grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am
set down with my father in his throne. He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. I want to be someone always asking,
don't you? May God give us grace to be just
that. Let's pray together.