I do invite you to turn with me to Matthew 7 this morning as we continue our consideration of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, our text being verses 7-11 of Matthew 7. Verse 12, really, as we'll see later, Lord willing, next week, marks the end of the body of the sermon proper. We have these powerful words. And I would like, once you've found Matthew 7, I'd invite you to turn to Luke's account. I'd like to read Luke's account as well. Luke 11, verses 5-13. Read first from Luke 11, beginning at verse 5, immediately following Luke's record of Jesus teaching His disciples what we call the Lord's Prayer. Beginning at verse 5, as we hear now the Word of God. Then He said to them, Suppose one of you has a friend and he goes to him at midnight and says, Friend, lend me three loaves of bread because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before him. Then the one inside answers, Don't bother me. The door is already locked and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? In reading the similar words of our text, Matthew 7, beginning of verse 7, Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. He who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him? There ends the reading of God's Word. May He add His blessing to the reading and consideration of it this morning. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, here you have it right before your very eyes. Proof that our God is a name-it-and-claim-it God. That no matter what, whenever you want, whoever you are, just ask and God will give you what you ask for. After all, it says it right here. Here before us is justification for some to preach, God wants you to be successful and He wants you to be prosperous and He wants you to have all good things in your life and He wants everything to go the way you want it to in your life. He is like our own personal vending machine for life. Beloved, sadly, many who wrongly believe all of this when their desires are not met, when they are not fulfilled, They turn their backs on. They reject God and His Word as nothing more than a dead-end road. They see Christianity as nothing more than a fool's journey. Yet we know, don't we, that this is not what Jesus is teaching here. As if this is some sort of a blanket promise over all people, no matter what, no matter who, and for whatever you and I want. For one thing, as we have continued to impress upon ourselves throughout this series of sermons, Jesus is talking to believers here. He is talking to kingdom citizens, to those who are poor in spirit, who understand their sin and their misery, and that they are not able to stand before God based on themselves. Jesus' promise here is only for kingdom citizens, for believers. But even then, it's not for absolutely anything and everything that you and I might ever want. Yet it is a most comforting and comprehensive and gracious promise to those who believe. As it is God's promised provision for the kingdom journey. For those whom God has brought into His kingdom, the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ by His grace. And He promises provision for that kingdom journey. Provision that is governed by kingdom character. What kind of provision, we might ask. It's provision that is governed by kingdom character. By what God requires, not by what man desires. It's not a blank check that Jesus is talking about, signed and guaranteed by God, that all you and I need to do is write in, pay to the order of Me, asking for whatever I want, whatever it is that makes me happy. Jesus, as you recall, has been teaching about the kingdom of God, obviously, and specifically about kingdom citizens and what they look like as far as the character of the kingdom, the character of that new life as the Beatitudes clearly describe, and how that kingdom life, how Christianity, how our Christianity is to be practiced. He's been teaching about the believer's behavior before the sight of God, in the midst of the world, and with one another. And our Lord's promise here has to do with the instruction that He gives about that kingdom life and the believer's practice in that life. Indeed, there are many who misuse this text just as we said many misuse judge not, that ye be not judged, saying that that means that we are never to judge anything or anyone about anything at any time. But simply to be tolerant and accepting of everyone and let me be me and let you be you. And of course, as we saw, that's not what that text means. And many misuse this text. And then when what is requested fails to come flooding in, they become doubtful and angry and resentful that God is not keeping His promise. And they fail to understand. Maybe they fail to know James 4, verse 3. Where James says, when you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives. Or as we also know it, you ask amiss. Asking amiss includes unbelievers who indeed ask without faith, ask with a wrong understanding of God, treating God like that personal vending machine for life. If He's real, then I might as well get whatever I can from Him. Or asking amiss in the sense of those even believers for whom earthly treasure is more important than heavenly treasure. Or asking against God's will or asking with selfish motives many ways in which mankind, even believers, can ask amiss. Praise God, beloved, that His promise here is bigger, larger, much more huge than whatever I may want. And praise God that He is not prepared to do absolutely anything I ask or to give whatever I want. Isn't it true that so often with time we come to realize that some of the things that we've wanted would not have been for our good? His promised provision, beloved, is governed by kingdom character, that kingdom life, and what God requires, And it is contrasted with life outside the kingdom of heaven. Life outside of Jesus Christ is life that is governed by selfishness and by the survival of the fittest and doing whatever it takes to gain an advantage, even taking advantage of others to fulfill my own personal lusts or to accumulate my own personal earthly treasures. Life outside the kingdom of God is life in service to Satan, to sin and to the lie, those things which constantly attack and put pressure on believers who are called to live antithetical to this world, opposite, opposed to this world. We are in the world, but not to be of it, not to be taking on the character of the world. In contrast to that life outside the kingdom is what Jesus teaches here, what He has been teaching ever since the very first words of this sermon. The Kingdom of Heaven requires poverty of spirit. It requires purity of heart. It requires mercy and truth and compassion. It requires hungering and thirsting for righteousness and enduring persecution without a spirit of revenge. It requires living visibly as salt and light pointing the world to the Lord Jesus Christ. It requires fighting against hatred and lust of heart. It requires integrity in our motives for acts of righteousness not to be seen by men. But that which is pleasing to God. It requires loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. It requires delighting in heavenly treasure which is unseen more than earthly treasure which is seen. Requires not worrying, but instead being content, at peace, with God and what He gives. And as we considered even last week, it requires keeping from that horrible, hypocritical judgment of others and condemnation of others, all the while removing the plank, dealing with our own sins that may take us captive. And once we have done that by the power of the Holy Spirit according to God's grace, then dealing in charity and love with one another. You know, we've just covered the entire sermon. All of that is what God requires. That's what that kingdom character and that kingdom life and that kingdom behavior is all about. Paul, we might say, summarizes it to Titus when he says, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. And all that our Lord teaches here is throughout Scripture and especially throughout the New Testament. Kingdom life is a life of watching. It's a life of denying ourselves. It's a life of striving against sin and taking up the whole armor of God and fighting the good fight of faith and putting off the deeds of the old man, the old flesh, and putting on the new flesh, the new righteousness, the new life. We might be able to summarize this kingdom life by saying, in a sense, it is the undoing of the long-standing habits of the sinful nature. It is a life contrary to what is natural for mankind. Beloved, as we hear again all that we have considered so far throughout this sermon, as we hear what kingdom life requires, what it's all about, there's only one response that you and I can make and that is with the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 2. He says, who is equal to such a task? Who is sufficient for these things? And all we can say is, not me. Not me. Because I struggle with worry. I struggle with a judgmental attitude. I struggle with lust. I struggle with all these things. I'm not sufficient. But with this text, Jesus is teaching kingdom citizens to be asking for God's grace for life. We might say He is teaching us to ask for spiritual graces, we might call them. In order to be and to live as Jesus Christ redeemed us, to be and to live while we are still here, He is calling us to ask for that which we need to be able to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and instead to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. These are the good things that God promises. And I believe Luke helps us to understand that in his account when he says, How much more will your Father in Heaven give not good things, like Matthew says, but the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. The Holy Spirit is the gift of Jesus Christ to provide for and to equip God's people as kingdom citizens. He is that one who begins and carries out and accomplishes and completes that good work. And as Peter says, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Our dear people of God, we are faithful and we are consistent in asking for daily bread or in asking for healing or in asking for debt relief or in asking for the ability to make ends meet. We are diligent to be sure in asking for whatever concerns us for this physical life and we ought to be. But we are being reminded here that there is something much more important of eternal value. Jesus commands His people to be equally, if not more diligent, to request the special graces that only He can give. He's given to us His saving grace. And He promises to give us what we need for life as a Christian, as a believer. He calls us to be diligent in requesting those special graces that only He can give to live and conduct ourselves as His representatives in this world to seek first His kingdom with His promise to provide, secondly, granted through genuine prayer. Excuse me for just a second. In verses 7 and 8, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds. and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. He's talking about prayer. God promises to provide through genuine prayer. Genuine prayer is prayer that is proper. Proper prayer is prayer that is offered in true faith. The word asking here has the idea of an inferior asking of a superior. And therefore asking in humility. Of a slave asking of a master. Of a child asking of a parent. Recognizing my need. Recognizing that I am without. Recognizing that I cannot secure what is needed on my own. Recognizing there is only one who is able to provide. There is indeed a rich supply. And one supplier. Proper prayer is prayer that is according to His will, with confidence in the truth of God's Word. and that provision which is granted through genuine prayer, that prayer then is also prayer which is persistent. Now there are different ideas of how to understand asking and seeking and knocking. Some say that there is an intensity that follows each one, and that may very well be true, but certainly we know that Jesus is teaching here that there is a constant need for these things. There is to be persistence, like the man who went to his neighbor. And he wasn't given because he was a friend, He was given because He wouldn't leave them alone. He kept on. Jesus is teaching we have a constant need for these things. And His audience would have heard Jesus say, we don't get it very well in our English, but in the original, His audience would have heard Jesus to be saying, always, constantly, continually, be asking, seeking, and knocking. Never letting up. Prayer for God's people is to be a present, ongoing activity of kingdom life. Being persistent in it. And persistent also then in desire. Persistent in desiring these things that God has promised to give us for our kingdom life. Desiring them intensely. Valuing what we need and that only God can give. If you really want something, you keep asking. And boys and girls and young people, you know this is true. If you want something, eh, I can take it or leave it. You might ask once and leave it at that. But if you really, really want something, you ask again and again and again and again and again. Making your parents tired. And in a sense, that's what Jesus is challenging us to do. Try to make God tired. You can't do it. But keep on asking. And asking here for the virtues that Jesus has taught that we are to have as God's people. Seeking for God alone who supplies. Knocking on the throne room, on the storehouse of heaven. Persistent also in doing. Here's where the intensity may come in. Asking again implies humility and consciousness of our need. And asking presupposes believing in the one and only almighty personal God trusting that He can and He does and He will answer. And seeking then, as someone suggests, is asking plus acting to obtain fulfillment of our needs. Be busy. God has given us new life in Christ Jesus. It is not to be an idle life. It is to be an active life. We pray for daily bread, but we don't just sit there and wait for it to show up on our plate. Maybe the boys and girls do because mom supplies. But we don't just sit there and wait for that. It's not going to happen. The Bible says, he who will not work will not eat. We pray for daily bread, we get to work. God has called us to do that. He provides through that means. In the same way here, for example, as we pray to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we don't just wait for it to happen by osmosis. But we are called to study and meditate on the Word of God. The same is true for considering that righteousness that Jesus says exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees or doing that which is pleasing to God. We commit ourselves to the study of the Word of God. He tells us right there what is pleasing to Him. Or when it comes to having proper motives for acts of righteousness or love for our enemies, we are called to actively examine ourselves and to actually and consciously work with the Spirit's help to put these things into practice. We don't just pray it and then forget about it and go out and live like the world. But in a sense, to be consumed with it. How can I do that which is pleasing to God? When it comes to desiring and praying for a pure heart, that means actively, consciously keeping our eyes from images that would cause lust. Or praying for a heart that is pure or to be kept from murder or instead as a peacemaking heart. God's people heed the Word of God through James. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. The kingdom life is not an idle life. It's a life of asking and seeking. Activity and then knocking, asking, plus acting, plus perseverance again. With our minds set on things above because we know that is the storehouse of God. Provision is granted through genuine prayer, which is proper, which is persistent, which is also promised. God promises to hear it. For everyone who asks, receives. He who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Again, talking to His kingdom citizens, no exceptions. For everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and calls on the name of God, God will provide for the kingdom journey all that He calls us to be, all that He calls us to have, who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, genuinely seek, ask and seek and knock, even and especially, beloved, when life doesn't make sense. Even when as hard as I'm trying, I can't seem to get ahead financially. even when a child dies in infancy or at a very young age, even when I am surrounded by the ravages of cancer or pending death, God alone gives what we need to trust Him more and more and to be at peace in the midst of these circumstances and not to be consumed with worry. And His provision in the third place is guaranteed by God's goodness. Beginning at verse 9, Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him? Guaranteed by God's goodness. God who is our Father. John says, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. He is our Father. And here, our Father in Heaven is compared with earthly fathers. And each one of us, even the boys and girls, you can understand this illustration that Jesus gives. He separates Himself here, did you notice, from His audience? You who are evil. Not we who are evil, because He's not, but you who are evil, talking about man's sin nature and the fact that even as believers we still struggle with sin. His point is very powerful that even the most sinful, selfish, Earthly father has a heart for his children. To provide what is needful, like bread, not worthless like a stone. To provide what is safe and satisfying, like fish, not something dangerous like a snake. And there is so much we could say here, but the point is earthly parents love their children. They hear their cries. They know their voices. You and I know this by experience. Even in a busy place, a child cries out. That parent knows that voice. Earthly parents seek to provide all that they are able to for their children. Jesus says, if that is so, and it is, then He says these precious words, How much more? Or all the more. You see, beloved, we can compare earthly fathers or earthly parents as only giving drops of blessing to their children. Sprinkles here and there versus our Heavenly Father whose provision is as inexhaustible as the ocean. His grace is wide as the ocean. As the psalmist in Psalm 81.10 says, I am the Lord your God who brought you up. God of Egypt, open wide your mouth and I will fill it. And with Him, there is never an inconvenient time to come. Again, not like the man in the parable at midnight was not a convenient hour. Things were locked up tight. But with our God, beloved, there is never, ever an inconvenient time. His ears are open to the prayers of His people as we say 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every single moment of our lives. And with every single spiritual gift of grace for the journey that God gives as our Father, with every gift He acknowledges us as His children born again by His grace for Jesus' sake because He only gives His gifts to His children. And He is the one who only gives for the child's benefits. He gives good gifts. With these spiritual graces for kingdom life, our God gives good gifts. His very nature is goodness. He can only give what is good. He will never give for our hurt. He will not give what would lead us into temptation or cause us to drift or fall away from Him or would destroy us. He will not give what our foolishness desires when it comes to our spiritual life. And if and when we ask for things that would hurt us, God withholds them. And He will not always give when we want. Sometimes, it may seem like He doesn't hear us. it's not that he's not ready to give he is but he may take his time in order to test our desire do we really want these spiritual graces needed as kingdom citizens are we willing to keep asking and seeking and knocking do you want to be more loving and more charitable and less judgmental towards others then ask ask seek knock when we pray for patience and the answer to us seems like it isn't coming that god is withholding his answer it may very well be that he's developing that patience he may be testing our faith an unbelieving heart is is soon discouraged but true faith is not destroyed by God's delay. He may not always give what we want. God may give something different or at a different time than we expected, but then it will always be better and not worse for us. He will never, ever give his children what is evil. He may give through the pathway of hardship or heartache or difficulty or earthly need, and the world will interpret that to be bad, evil. Yet you and I, by the grace of God, see afterwards that it's for our good. It's for our spiritual welfare. It is for our growth in godliness. He may answer. He may give unexpectedly, but never disappointingly. Dear people of God, this is not a blank check for anyone and for anything. But this is God's promised provision of spiritual graces for you and me for the kingdom journey. He does not save and redeem His people and bring them into the kingdom of the Son He loves and only to leave us to ourselves. Our sin testifies that we cannot stand. Our sin testifies against us daily. Yet He forgave it all because of the blood of Jesus. And He helps us to see our peace with Him. He is the great provider for those who are in Christ Jesus, for those who trust in Him alone. Apart from Jesus Christ, one is on His own, both today and forever. That one is hopeless. That one cannot endure. But for all those, only those, but all those who surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust His saving work, this is our promise. This is our guarantee. He is the great provider. He promises to prepare us to be what He has called us to be and equip us to live transformed lives that reflect Him more and more. We fail daily, but again, we're covered by the blood of Jesus. And the Holy Spirit continues to do that work to help us to live as children of God. And our confidence, beloved, is that if God is faithful to supply us with valuable spiritual treasure for life, to live as His adopted children, which is most important, He will not refuse. All that we need for this life. To sustain our physical lives through which we demonstrate kingdom obedience. He has already said, and all these things will be added unto you. This is God's powerful promise for Jesus' sake. And therefore, may we be eager to ask God for His grace and help. May we be impatient to seek. Yes, can't wait to seek blessing that only God can give. May we delight and knock at the door of God's heavenly throne room, confident of the word of the Lord through Jeremiah. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. The second stanza of that song we sang from the insert says, Thou art coming to a king. Large petitions with thee bring. For his grace and power are such. None can ever ask too much. None can ever ask too much. A supply that you and I can never exhaust. The kingdom life, the Christian life, is not a fool's journey. It is not a dead-end road, but it is a journey of the promised provision of the eternal grace and glory of God for Jesus' sake. Amen. Let's pray together. dear heavenly father we pray that you would knit our hearts and each and every one closer and closer with you we do ask lord that you would pour out upon us that which we need as kingdom citizens as children of god to be poor in spirit and to mourn and to be a peacemaker to fight against the lust of the flesh and the murder from the heart and to keep from being judgmental to others but instead to be filled with love and compassion and charity for one another as you have poured out upon us. And Father, we thank you for your promises guaranteed even as you have proven already through the coming, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. We praise You, Father, that we can take You at Your Word and that You never fail. Increase our faith, O Lord. Hear our prayer for Jesus' sake, and in His name we pray. Amen.