Is it snowed in your bulletin? We're going to be in the gospel
of Matthew, The Sermon on the Mount chapter 7 verses 7 to 11
and children. As you hear this listen
carefully to what Jesus is saying, he's making a promise,
it has to do with us asking our heavenly father for things.
This is an amazing passage again, Matthew 7, beginning at
verse 7, through verse 11 ask and it will be given to you seek
and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone
who asks receives the one who seeks finds to the one who
knocks it will be opened or which one of you.
If his son asks for bread, will give him a stone or if he asks
for a fish, will give him a serpent if you then who are evil
know how to give good gifts to your children.
How much more will your father? Father, who is in heaven?
Give good things to those who ask him.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Amen. I'm sure some child about 15 or
20 minutes from now will say to their parents.
Why did we get to here to sermons today?
May feel like that and this very special day.
But children, I want you to really listen to something
because you can help us here the vs.
Are Matthew, 7:7 211. I want you to even maybe think
of a 7-Eleven, as you see them some days maybe when you see
them to remind you of what Jesus is saying here just to think
about it. Jesus tells us to ask to seek to
knock and we're not doing it. If a pastor were to ask me to
describe the spiritual health of our church, there's lots of
things I could say when I'm a guest preacher somewhere.
I often asked that question, what's almost always consistent
is this? The congregation doesn't show.
They really fill their need for Jesus and the way they come for
prayer, the congregation doesn't really show.
They feel their need for Jesus. When it comes to them, coming
for prayer. This is important.
Here's why if you ever want to know how to apply any sermon you
ever hear. If you ever want to know how to
apply any Christian book, you read, if you want to know how to
apply any podcast, Christian podcast, any Christian Bible
study here in if you want to know how to apply it.
It's right here. In these few verses where Jesus
applies very clearly, how his audience, Was to receive what
they just heard. Here's what I mean for less than
15 minutes, Jesus, preached these words.
His sermon, even if you read it slowly, those three chapters
take less than 15 minutes. And then Jesus comes to this
point in his sermon where he says ask, and it will be given
you seek and you will find knock.
And the door will be open to you.
What is he talking about? He is not here.
Teaching name it and claim it. Whatever you want.
Ask for it. If you want a new car, then pray
for it. If you want a job to build
afford a new car, pray. This is not at all with this
section of Matthew. 7 is about, it is about Jesus showing us.
After at this point, he had probably preached about 12 to 13
minutes. It's recorded that everything he
has said up to this point. Everything, not just some
things, everything that he said up to this point, you can't do
it. Neither can I we're not smart
enough, we're not diligent enough, we're not spiritually,
mature enough, there's not one line in the sermon where you
could say. I know some of them are hard but
because of my giftedness because of my mental capacity, because
of my diligence, I can do it. Jesus is closing his sermon.
He's going to follow with a few illustrations, but he's closing
his sermon with its incredible truth.
You can't do it. and one of the reasons pastors like me would
say our congregations, don't feel their need for prayer is
because when we take time and invite people to pray The
attendance is really poor, this isn't by the way to make you
feel shame. This is to open your eyes to the
fact that you might really believe you don't need.
What Jesus is saying, you desperately need you can't do
any part of The Sermon on the Mount apart from Jesus, none of
it, none of it. If you don't believe me, just go
back to it. Go back to the beginning, we
started there. About a year ago.
Can you believe it? We have about five sermons,
maybe six left to Jesus, 15 minutes, taking us over 50 weeks
and we actually could keep going.
But at the end of every sermon, At the end of what you heard
last week. So beautifully.
Preached by Chad, what you'll hear next week and every week,
and every book you read, The application is the same in Jesus
gives it to us. It's very, very simple.
Ask. Ask a SK.
Ask ask it will be given to you seek and you will find knock.
And the door will be open to you.
When we have afternoons, where we invite you to pray or
occasionally will have people in the corners.
Very few people come. There's a reason why there's a
stronghold in our culture that tells you don't look needy, if
you're over there, praying. Somebody might wonder.
Well, what's really wrong with you?
You know what, they might be saying something like this.
I really want to love my enemies.
Pray for me. I really want to be pure in
heart. Pray for me.
I really want to stop lusting. Pray for me.
I really want to know what it means to be generous.
Pray for me, the prayers that we typically bring not minimizing
these at all or four things that we really feel need over
physical health. We should pray.
Relational Health, we should pray.
But friends, what Jesus is saying here?
It's all centered on the spiritual life.
And what he's saying is when you hear what I have preached, when
you hear what I have said, you can't do it.
You can't sew. Ask your father.
Seek your father, knock at the door and it will be given you.
I'm going to give you two points, but before I do, I want
you to hear this. We've made much.
Of what Jesus has made much of. And that is the father.
One of my favorite things that Chad Scruggs said last week was
when he talked about grown-up theology.
You remember what? That was grown up.
Theology is when his children, not just the little ones, but
all of us, Run and Jump into the lap of the father.
That's grown up, theology. But he said grown-ups don't do
that professionals. I remember saying that don't do
that. And I think it's true that we
don't think of God that way. Either friends not as children,
who are desperate for something from their father.
Martyn lloyd-jones, listen to what he says.
If you should ask me to state in one phrase.
Now Martin lloyd-jones is saying this is really significant.
If you should ask me to state in one phrase, what I regard as the
greatest defect in most Christian lives.
Now, let me pause for a minute. If somebody were to ask you
that, what would you put there? What would you say from your own
perspective, even your own life? This is what I think.
The greatest defect is in most Christians lives in my life.
What would you say? I don't think you would say what
he says. Listen if you should ask me to
state in one phrase, what I regard as the greatest defect
and most Christians lives. I would say that it is our
failure to know God as our father as we should know him.
That's amazing. Jesus in this sermon uses the
name, father, over and over and over again.
When he's teaching about this application of a sermon.
He has the father in mind that he's the one that we should ask
seek and knock. So here's what I want you to
take away. We are to ask the father.
With persistence and weird to ask the father with confidence.
Persistence and confidence. And here's why I would say
persistence, unless, you know, Greek or reading a commentary
that speaks to Greek. The grammar here wouldn't mean
much to you, but it actually means everything.
It's written as a present imperative, versus an heiress
imperative in erised imperative means to do something.
Once it would be like me saying to you right now, pick up your
hymnal. Fairest imperative, you pick it
up? Once you you obey what's being
asked When Jesus says, ask seek and knock, it's not an heiress
imperative. It's a present imperative, which
means continually. So, what Jesus is saying, here
is, when you think about all that, you have just heard that.
I've preached, all the Beatitudes, all that he says
about relationships, all that. He says, about hypocrisy, all
that. He says about prayer, what is he
saying? For those things?
Which you In of yourself cannot generate continually ask.
Continually ask continually seek continually seek continually
knock, if that's not what we're doing.
That means we don't truly feel our need of him.
Even if we quote, great books are seeing great hymns.
When we truly feel the need of something, that makes this
desperate. It affects the way.
We pray our spiritual condition because all we've already
proclaimed reveals that We actually can profess that we see
ourselves as sinners in need of a savior.
So continually ask continually seek continually knock, there's
something else here the way in which Jesus uses those three
present imperatives ask seek and knock shows that there is an
ascending intensity. There is an ascending intensity
We Begin by recognizing a need at hope you're recognizing it
even now. And so we ask there's an
ascending intensity that moves towards effort.
Now, many of you heard what Chad said, last week, effort matters,
not in our justification, but certainly in our Progressive,
sanctification, Seeking is looking, it's moving.
It's not just asking. And then, lastly, you have this
idea of perseverance, persistence knocking at the
door, beating down the door. There's something you want so
badly. Jesus, as the Luke records, this
gives us this picture of That intensity that persistence turn
in your Bible very quickly to Luke chapter 11.
This is where the counterpart is Jesus.
In Luke 11, he records the same statement.
But he says this before it verse 5, 11 5 which of you who has a
friend will go to him, have been diet and say to him friend lend
me, three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey
and I have nothing to set before him, and he will answer from
within In do not bother me. The door is now shut and my
children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you
anything. I tell you though, he will not
get up and give him anything because he is a friend, his
friend yet because of his perseverance, that's really the
word persistence. He will rise and give him
whatever he needs. And I tell you ask, and it will
be given to you seek, and you will find knock and it will be
open to you. There it is.
I want to do one more picture that Jesus gave us turnover and
Luke a little further to Luke 18.
This is the illustration that also speaks of persistence and
confidence. Jesus told them a parable to the
effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
I want you to think about this for a minute.
Before I read the parable. How many of you know, that on
your smartphone device, whatever you use that there is a history
section. And you can look at that or
somebody else can and tell you everything.
You've searched. I mean, you know that that's a
reality good. I want you to think about your
history. Not so much in terms of where
your eyes have gone on the internet but I want you to think
of your history even today. And yesterday since winter
Grace, what's been the history of what you have asked God for
How many of the things have you been asking God for that are
really related specifically to what he preached in The Sermon
on the Mount. I'm not saying that anything
you've been asking for is wrong. but I think for many of us,
Praying with ascending intensity praying, with this present
imperative that we are not going to the Lord begging him to give
us what he promises to give us. Those are the things of his
righteousness. So, Jesus gives the picture.
It's a parable of a woman, most likely in your Bible.
It says, the parable of the persistent Widow, which I don't
thinks the best title. Those things are not inspired.
Their things above the word that just Just helps us identify them
and I'll tell you why in a minute, but let me read the
parable. It's very short.
He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to
pray and not lose heart. So, what's the point?
We should always be praying and not lose heart.
He then said in a certain city, there was a judge who neither
feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that
City, who kept coming to him and saying give me Justice against
my adversary for a while he refused.
But afterward he said to himself do I neither fear God nor
respect man yet Because this Widow keeps bothering me.
I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her
continual coming. The Lord said, hear what?
The unrighteous judge says. And will not God, give Justice
to his elect who cry to him day and night.
Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give Justice
to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the son of
man comes, will he find faith on Earth?
The imperative here is very clear.
Don't stop asking God. Seeking God knocking on that
door for the things that he himself.
Has said, he will give us that relate to our sanctification are
being made like him. Don't just simply say I have bad
habits on wired this way. This is the way God made me know
friend. If, you know, there's some part
of your heart, your body, your mind, your soul.
That is not living. According to what Christ is
preached, take it to him. Ask seek knock but here's the
Danger of this Parable being titled the persistent Widow.
It's that we think the main point is for us just to be
persistent. That's not the main point.
It's certainly part of it, but there's another subtle thing
that you can't miss. We can't miss this.
We are to be persistent in our prayers, friends.
Don't stop praying, don't lose heart.
Keep asking keep seeking. Keep knocking.
But here's the difference, we are not asking and unjust judge
and we are not widows and orphans.
We have the heavenly father who is good and does good.
Who Jesus tells us Delights to give us good gifts.
In Luke section, he would speak specifically of that being the
Holy Spirit. We don't persist in prayer to a
judge or even a father who's saying just knock long enough
and I'll become fed up, and then I'll give you what you want.
He's not that. And so, we're too persistent
prayer to a father who Delights in giving us good things and
work to persistent prayer. Not as a widow or an orphan, but
in his beloved daughters and sons, who really can?
Like we've been singing run into the arms of the Living.
God, we really can sit in the lap of our heavenly father.
But when you get there, when you are there, what are you asking
him for? Friend.
Go back over The Sermon, on the Mount.
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what is not well in your soul.
What areas of your life are you not living according to what
Christ has said and I said it clearly asked the Holy Spirit,
you can't see it apart from him and when he reveals that
whatever it might be, are those things whatever they might be.
Ask him to change you. Ask him to make you hunger and
thirst for righteousness. Ask him to turn your eyes from
looking at worthless things. Do it with persistence, but also
with confidence. because Jesus says, it will be given you.
You will find. It will be opened for everyone
who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and the one who
knocks it will be opened. What would bless?
This body greatly. is, if we all really believed, what we say we
believe That apart from Jesus we can't do any of this.
But in Christ with confidence we can come asking continually,
seeking continually knocking continually with confidence
believing that he and he alone will give us what we ultimately
need. if you want to pray today, come and see us.
Send an email. Meet Carrie and Eleanor right
here, don't meet you in the corner. those men that we're up
here, standing scatter around If you need prayer friend come and
let me make it easy, you do. Every Sunday.
And at the end of every book, you read, And every Christian
thing you intake, this is the application always.
Ask seek and knock Father in Heaven.
There's so much good news. And I have to be honest, Lord.
This culture is so strong and making us.
Say one thing and seemingly believe it.
But this still live. Is it?
Everything is okay. Father, I pray today that your
grace would truly show itself to be sufficient.
As you say, hear our prayers Lord, whether we pray with
someone or even out loud right now, to you have mercy on us and
give us the ability to believe what you preach Christ, ask and
it will be given seek, and you will find knock.
And the door will be open to you.
We pray this in Jesus name, amen.