It's good to be here, good to see each of you here. Today's passage follows on the heels of last week's passage in terms of being frequently misunderstood. The words of Jesus last week were judge not. Those words are sometimes taken to mean that Christians should give unconditional approval to all lifestyles. The words of Jesus in Matthew 7, 7 also are often misunderstood. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you are sometimes taken to be carte blanche promise of God to give the believer anything that he or she asks for. Verses like Matthew 7, 7, taken out of context to give fuel to the prosperity gospel. The main tenet of the prosperity gospel is that above all, what God really wants is to bless you, believer, with health and wealth. And much as we might like to believe that, the purposes of God are not primarily to be a celestial Santa Claus ever waiting on our demands. But before getting into that, we need to understand how verses 7 through 12 fit into the Sermon on the Mount. Because verses 7 through 12 are a transition in the Sermon on the Mount. Statistically, the sermon, which covers Matthew 5, 6, and 7, statistically, it's over more than 80%. has already been covered in the remaining half chapter, the focus of Jesus shifted to the danger of missing eternal life. And that's what the rest of the sermon after today covers. And that, that warning of Jesus about missing eternal life begins in verse 13 right after today's passage. Enter by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it. That comes after the transition of today in verses 7 through 12. Jesus reviewed chapters 5, 6 and the first part of verse 7. But he reviewed it in two different ways. The first in verses seven through 11, and the second way in verse 12. Back when we began chapter five, we noted that the Sermon on the Mount is a kingdom manifesto. Jesus described the attitudes and behaviors which the people of his kingdom must demonstrate and these attitudes and behaviors were very difficult to attain to and probably very difficult for the listeners to even hear because the level of difficulty that would be required to meet the kingdom manifesto of Jesus. Now, if you have your Bible open to Matthew 7 or your Bible app, It would be good because we're going to go back through a little review of Matthew 5, 6, and the first half of 7 and review some parts of the Sermon on the Mount, the commands and the manifesto that Jesus gave for the people of his kingdom. We'll make a few stops along the way. First one at Matthew 5. Verses 11 and 12 where Jesus said, blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Now clearly that's a hard message to hear. You're coming and you're interested in following Jesus. And first of all, he says, hey, you're going to be persecuted, but that's great. You know, blessed are you when you're persecuted. Who wants to hear that? The first, some of the first words out of Jesus's mouth dropped down to verses 27 and 28. In chapter five, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Again, this is hard to do. It's hard to live completely and totally free of lustful thoughts. But Jesus continued, he said, hey, if your right eye causes you to sin, causes you to have those lustful thoughts, pluck it out and cast it from you, it's more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And even though that is a figure of speech and Jesus wasn't advocating literally, poking your eye out, it's still a hard message. Drop down to verses 38 and 39. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth, but I tell you, do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. Another hard message. Hey, you have to refuse to retaliate. And that refusal to retaliate is not embedded in human nature. Verses 43 and 44. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Jesus is really, he's asking for what's virtually impossible for people to do. Flip over to chapter six, verses 14 and 15. for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses." Uh-oh, so many of us are in trouble at this point and of his listeners too because it's so hard to forgive. Drop down to verse 34. in chapter six, therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Here Jesus commanded against worry. But how many of us can truly say that we are free from all worry? Another hard demand of Jesus. And then in chapter seven, after all of these difficult commands, Jesus said, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened. The context of the promises in Matthew 7, 7, and 8 is that Jesus knows it's impossible for us on our own to measure up to the kingdom manifesto that he was giving to the people. And remember, this sermon was very early in Jesus's ministry, and the multitudes there, they didn't know Jesus very well. They didn't know his theology very well. They just knew that Jesus was an itinerant preacher that went around and healed people, healed the sick, healed the demon-possessed, healed those that were disabled. Anyone that was brought to him, he healed them. These were people, they were looking for a cause to join. These are potential zealots looking for their hero. And to these people, seeking a cause, Jesus said, you'll be persecuted. If someone slaps you on the cheek, you have to turn the other. You have to love your enemy. If you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you. And you can almost hear the crowd groaning. This guy's crazy. No one can do this. Let's get out of here. And Jesus said, wait. Yeah, yeah, it's true. You can't do it unless you receive power from on high. unless you receive power from me. You'll have to ask, you'll have to seek, you'll have to knock on the door of my storehouse of spiritual strength, but the power is there. Verses 7 through 11 are promises for spiritual strength to live out the manifesto, to live out the commands of scripture. They're not a promise that you can get any toy that you want from God. Now, many of you have played Find the Difference. Remember that game? Two pictures, pretty similar. But if you look closely, you can find 10 differences from picture A to picture B. All right, we're going to play Bible, find the difference this morning. You can see in your extra passages, a passage from Luke 11, nine to 13. This is a parallel passage. You can turn there, but, Often in the parallel passages, the different gospel writers included a little bit different wording. Jesus said all the words, but of course, none of the gospel writers could include everything that Jesus said. That would have made volumes and volumes and volumes of books. And so there are slightly different emphases. There are two major differences between Luke's passage and Matthew's passage that Dave read this morning. See if you can find the differences. All right, Luke 11, nine through 13. So, I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? All right, how'd you do? Did you find the two major differences? One, Luke included the third example. If he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? Matthew didn't include the third example. The second major difference is that Luke replaced give good things with give the Holy Spirit. It's easier to pick up the correct inference, I believe, from Luke. The Holy Spirit is our source of spiritual strength. With the Holy Spirit's strength, we can do a credible job of following the kingdom ethics that Jesus laid down in Matthew 5, 6, and the first part of chapter 7. And as well as the ethics that are laid down elsewhere in the Bible. So the theme is, the grace to live a victorious, power-filled Christian life is provided, but it's for those who ask, seek, and knock. I stated that the promises of God regarding our prayers are not that we can ask and expect anything from God at any time. There are conditions for answered prayer. And it's absolutely critical to understand that there are conditions for re-answered prayer, because otherwise disillusionment can set in. People who believe they have the absolute right to name it and claim it, go to God with their demands. And when God doesn't answer their demands, they become disillusioned. Or, on the other hand, they languish away in guilt because presumably, oh, I just don't have the faith. My faith is weak. This happens sometimes in the realm of physical health. A person with a physical ailment fervently prays for healing. His family joins in, his friends join in, his church joins in. Sometimes the Lord heals and sometimes it's not the Lord's will for healing. But if you're conditioned to believe that God must answer my prayer, whatever it is, that's going to lead to heartache and bitterness. if the healing that I prayed for doesn't take place. This might be a good time to identify some of the conditions needed for God to answer prayer. I don't know that these are all of them. These are just some of the conditions that I know that scripture puts on answered prayer. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. He's not gonna hear and answer a prayer of a man living in known sin. Sin has to first be confessed and forsaken. Also, our prayers, they need to be within God's will. This is 1 John 5, 14. This is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. We have confidence that when our prayer is within God's will, He hears and He answers, but we should have no such confidence when we pray for something contrary to what God wants. Also, our prayers need to be accompanied by faith. Faith does matter. This is James 1, 6 and 7. Let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. Prayers also need to be fervent. Not half-hearted. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months, and so God answers the fervent prayers, earnest prayers. He has no obligation to answer prayers that we apparently don't even care about. In addition to being fervent, our prayers need to be persistent. Then he spoke a parable to them that men ought always pray and not lose heart. And immediately after this, Jesus told a parable about the persistent widow. We're gonna read that later. But the widow kept asking and got the answer that she sought because of her persistence. Our motives have to be right, James 4, 3. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. our desires for pleasure often don't honor God. And often they're not good for us either. So God has no obligation to answer a prayer that is harmful to us. In fact, since he's a loving father, I would say he has an obligation not to answer a prayer in a way that would be harmful to us. Quite a number of years ago, Probably 25. We had a Christmas gift exchange in our family, and one of the older cousins drew Evan's name. And as Evan opened this present, you know, his eyes were fairly gleaming when he pulled out a hatchet. Well, Evan didn't use that hatchet for many years because we wouldn't let him. Now, we could have been really popular parents at that point. Oh, thanks, Mom. Oh, thanks. You're so nice. You let me play with the hatchet. Thanks, Dad. You guys are good parents. And a week later, Evan would have been missing two fingers, a call on a toe, you know. Elliot, a six-inch gash in his thigh. God is not a negligent parent who answers your prayer by giving you things that are harmful to your soul. The final condition we'll mention today is that in order for our prayers to be answered, we need to be free from dishonoring treatment of others, that's represented by 1 Peter 3, 7. Husbands likewise dwell with them according to understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers may not be hindered. You see, the prayers are hindered when we mistreat others, in this case, a husband dishonoring his wife. Now, 2 verses 7 through 11 in a first summary statement of Jesus in which he talked about how his disciples would have the power to carry out the mission that Jesus gave to them. Empowering. Empowerment for the mission. So you have the promise there, verses 7 through 8. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you for everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. We have to ask. We have to seek. We have to knock. Only when we ask will we receive. Only when we seek will we find. Only when we knock will the door to God's power and blessing be opened. You might suggest that the old saying by Jim Ratz applies here. No pain, no gain. No pain, no gain. Now, the three verbs, ask, seek, and knock represent progressive intensity. Asking can be done with little time, little investment. Asking is simple, really, but the reality is many Christians don't ask much. Christians, on average, spend four minutes a day in prayer. In America, the average person spends 144 minutes on social media. 144 to four. And reality is probably a good bit of the four minutes that are spent in prayer are requesting things other than power to live a godly life. God, please get me out of trouble, please. I want this new car. And so even of those four minutes, we may be praying for other things like conveniences rather than requesting God's strength to obey the commands of the Bible. Asking is easy, it's low investment, it's quick, it's uncomplicated. But even so, the promise of Jesus is that if you ask, it will be given to you. I've noticed that when I'm anticipating a difficult meeting, particularly thorny meeting, which is not, happens with some regularity, that if I pause to pray before the meeting, they go better. A prayer such as, Lord, help me to represent you in this meeting and help me to have, give me the wisdom that I don't have, you know, goes a long way. to having the strength to behave in a godly way in that meeting. All right, to seek is a step up from ask. To seek implies time, it implies effort. Think about something you lost, car keys, a wallet, a purse. And so when you lose something important, you set aside whatever you're doing. It interrupts your day and you dedicate yourself to the search. And you keep searching. You keep putting effort into it until you find it. The Greek word that's translated seek means to desire, to earnestly long for, to yearn for, even to the point of worship. To seek is to yearn and long for. well beyond the quick and easy matter of asking. Seeking is prolonged and it's ardent. To seek refuses to give up when success isn't immediate. You know, when you couldn't find those car keys in three minutes, you didn't quit. To seek is to fast and pray and dedicate oneself to scripture. Moving from asking to seeking, I think, is where most of us, including myself, too often miss the boat. We lack the passion, we lack the fortitude that we need in the struggle to lay hold of God's power to help us live the Christian life. You will seek me and find me, When? When you search for me with all your heart. But do we? Do we search for God with all of our heart? Seeking is fervent, it's unrelenting. Then there's knocking. Knocking indicates there's a closed door. So knocking implies resistance. The door is not open. The door to blessing is closed for the moment. Jesus didn't say that the door is closed and kept closed by God. That's unlikely, given that God wants to give us good gifts. The door might be closed due to our own sinful nature. The door might be closed through the wiles and work of the devil. Perhaps the door is closed because of the strength of the evil of this present world. The door is not locked against us by the obstinacy and obnoxiousness of God. God, he's not like that. Now, he doesn't needlessly keep us at arm's length. But sometimes it's in our best interest that the door is not opened too quickly or too easily, because faith is strengthened during times of trial. And through knocking, our hearts become aligned with gods, and we better understand our dependence on him. Some spiritual battles are won only through persistence. And Jesus told a parable to this end. It's also in Luke 11, it's listed as an extra passage for you. Starts right before the parallel passage that we read. So I'm reading Luke 11, starting at verse five. Jesus said to them, which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey and I have nothing to set before him. And the other friend will answer from within his house and say, don't trouble me. The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give to you. Jesus said, I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend yet because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened." The neighbor refused to give up until he had the bread in his hands that he needed. Knocking is a refusal to give up on the door to blessing that is presently closed. Knocking demonstrates confidence that God will open the door in His good time, and we can have confidence that God will open the door to us when we know that we are asking, seeking, and knocking in accordance with God's will. And when we pray for strength to obey God's commands, for ongoing sanctification, our prayers are aligned with God's will. I noticed the words to hymn we sang this morning, Whiter Than Snow. Verse two, Lord Jesus, look down from thy throne in the skies and help me to make a complete sacrifice. I give up myself and whatever I know, now wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. That is a prayer that God will answer. We know that that prayer is aligned with his will, much more so than to pray for a new car. All right. For this is the will of God, your sanctification. So when we pray for sanctification, when we pray for the strength to mature in a Christian life, God hears us. Sanctification simply is the process of becoming more mature as a believer. All right, the illustration. In order to boost the disciples' faith, God would respond to those who ask, seek, and knock. He gave an earthly illustration, a comparison, if you will, in verses 9 through 11. What man is there among you? If his son asks for bread, we'll give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, Will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Earthly fathers, regardless of how deficient we are, have some level of compassion and some sense of responsibility to our children. In the first part of the example, Jesus acknowledged that earthly fathers, they try to avoid calloused indifference. When a man's child is hungry, he doesn't hand them something inedible. That would be calloused indifference. You're hungry? Try this stone. That won't cost me anything. That's the kind of father that would get turned over to children's services. Good fathers are not indifferent to the needs of their children. In the second part of the example, Jesus indicated that earthly fathers avoid cruelty to their children. You want a fish? Well, I have a serpent. Ha ha. Hope it doesn't bite you. Ha ha ha. The term used for serpent here indicates a, you know, slyness and a cunning. It's maliciousness done in a artful fashion. We would call it treachery. Decent fathers aren't treacherous. They don't take pleasure in hiding their malicious intentions behind a pretense of being good-hearted. A vast majority of us here today could At minimum, count on our earthly fathers to provide for basic needs and to avoid treacherous and cruel behavior. God's by far superior to the best of fathers here or anywhere in the world. And since earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Jesus doesn't bother to explain how much more, how much superior is God to the best of earthly fathers. He just leaves that to our imagination. God is a perfect father who delights in providing for his children. That concludes the first summary statement that Jesus gave to the Sermon on the Mount. And that summary answered the question, how are we supposed to follow all these impossible commands, Jesus? And the answer of Jesus was, yes, you're right, it is impossible for you in your own strength to live out the high demands of the Christian life, but When you ask, seek, and knock for spiritual strength, you can do it. One last point before we move on to verse 12. Receiving Holy Spirit power to live the Christian life, it's imperative, but we're not talking about sinless perfection. Some churches teach that through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, we can actually reach the point where we no longer sin. Churches that believe this, they're often called holiness churches, holiness churches, Mount Calvary holiness church. You would learn in that church that you're supposed to reach a point in your life where you become so transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit that you're perfect. The Bible doesn't teach sinless perfection. on this side of heaven. First John 3, 2, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. The transformation to sinless perfection will come when we see Jesus face to face. At that time, his power and glory will transform us. Until then, we're going to need to apply 1 John 1, 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All right, now we come to a different sort of summary. about the Sermon on the Mount in verse 12. Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. Grasping the mission, understanding the mission, comprehending that what is the heart of God in this mission? And Jesus here summarized the Sermon on the Mount by its content. Much of the Sermon on the Mount mandates how we treat others. Very much of Old Testament law consists of guidelines on how we're to interact with each other and unbelievers. There are too many laws and guidelines for most of us to memorize. And if you want all those laws boiled down to a simple guideline, Jesus said, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. The Golden Rule is a great summary statement of much of Old Testament law and the prophets and the Sermon on the Mount. So we're gonna go back again in the Sermon on the Mount and find where Jesus emphasized how we treat others. So if you have your Bible, go back to chapter five, verse seven. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. When you were down and out, did you want people to be merciful to you? Then be merciful to them. Chapter 5, verses 23 and 24. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. When someone has sinned against you, would you like an apology? Would you like them to admit that what they did was wrong? Would you like for them to try to make it right as best they could? then you be willing to go confess your wrongdoings to those you have offended. Verses 27 and 28. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Do you really want people constantly eyeing your spouse with lustful intent? Always waiting for the right moment? of weakness to step in and turn those lustful thoughts into adultery? You don't want that, so don't eye other people's spouses lustfully. Chapter six, verse two. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory for men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. When you were down and out and you needed somebody's assistance, did you want them going to everybody announcing, oh, hey, I had to bail so-and-so out. I got themselves into trouble. Therefore, when you do a good deed for someone, don't go around announcing it. Do it secretly, do it without fanfare. Chapter six, verse 14, for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. When you have sinned, which we all have, would you like a second chance? Would you like for the offended party to drop their hostility against you at some point? Then forgive others their trespasses. And finally, chapter 7, verses 1 through 3, judge not that you be not judged for with what judgment you judge you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Do you want people constantly searching out your little faults? Always on you to correct some trifling matter? Wouldn't you rather that sometimes people just overlook minor faults than don't be harsh in your judgment of others? The golden rule, if really applied by people from the heart, would serve as a good stand-in for a great deal of Old Testament law, a great deal of New Testament commands, The reason that so many laws and rules are required in the Bible is because we constantly seek to serve ourselves at the expense of others. In the process, we violate the rights of others. And the laws in the Bible are meant to restrain the damage that people would do to each other. All kinds of things would be perpetrated by people against other people if there weren't guidelines and laws, really most civil laws for the same purpose, containing the damage that people would inflict on each other if there were no restraints. All right, there's another parable that Jesus told that I'd like to read by way of application. It's noted in your bulletin also, if you turn to Luke 18. This is the story of the persistent widow that I briefly alluded to earlier, Luke 18, one through eight. Then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart saying, There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city, and she came to him saying, get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not for a while, but afterward he said within himself, though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me. Then the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him, though he bears long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? What was the purpose in Jesus telling the parable? Verse 1, men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Don't lose heart. What's the big hindrance to believers seeing answers to their prayers? Verse 8, nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth? People on earth are plagued with a lack of faith. When Jesus comes, will he find people engaged in the acts of asking and seeking and knocking? The reason that we're not receiving much spiritually, not finding much victory in our lives, and not having the door of heaven open to us is because we're not asking, seeking, or knocking. Our problem is not simply a lack of belief. It's not just a lack of inner assurance that God's going to provide. It's also a lack of action. Impoverished faith is not only a failure in belief, but a failure in action. It wasn't the widow's unflinching belief in the judge. that saw her request answered. Actually, in all likelihood, the widow probably at some points thought, this is useless, this is hopeless, he's never going to give me justice. It was her persistence. The widow's request was granted because of her dogged, unflinching trips to the court, demanding justice. and you can be unflinching in your asking, seeking, and knocking, even if your level of belief, the level of inward assurance in God is perhaps lacking, you can still take the actions of faith, asking, knocking, seeking. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a God who hears and answers prayers and who takes delight in giving his children the strength to live life daily. And you even enjoy seeing us have happiness and joy and success in life. Father, we don't come to you asking for our favorite toys. even though sometimes you are gracious in that way. Help us, Father, to come, seeking the strength and the power to live out the Christian life. That when you call us home, Father, that you can say to us, well done, good and faithful servant. Help us to remember that the days of this life are short. The days of eternity are long. Help us to be prepared by being obedient servants here on earth. Father, we ask you these things in Jesus name. Amen.