Well, I invite you to turn this morning, we're continuing our study in Sermon on the Mount, coming to an end to it here shortly, and today we are looking at verses 7 through 12 of Matthew chapter 7, found on page 965, verses 7 through 12. A wonderful text for the supper, I trust you'll see beginning at verse 7 of Matthew chapter 7 let's give our attention this morning to the Lord's holy word 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 and the one who seeks finds and the one who knocks it will be open or which one of you if his son asks him 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 who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him So, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets. And there will end the reading of God's word. Well, taking up again the study and the sermon on the mount, studying this wonderful sermon, the kingdom of heaven has demonstrated that the kingdom of heaven has broke in in Christ. That's the great theme of this great message. The kingdom of heaven has come and we are members of that kingdom because of Christ. There's a sense in this sermon that all of life for us in the new creation is brand new. It's really beautiful when you think about it that way. All of life is brand new for us. Jesus is articulating that new life, that new kingdom life in the new covenant in the Sermon on the Mount. It's not, you'll notice, just think of some of the ways in which it differs from the old covenant that we've looked at. It's not demanding now strict justice. Now, since justice is satisfied in God's Son, we have a new response to this. That's different from the old covenant. We now turn the other cheek. We now give to the one who asks. We now love our enemies. It's almost like everything's transcended in this sermon on the mount in a new life, in the new creation that is brand new for us. There's a sense in which we are basking in the new creation as free sons and daughters of the king. and in our witness as members of his heavenly kingdom. Jesus is speaking of the whole of our lives here. This is important. And he is also helping us to understand what the Christian life, what the new creation looks like for us, what it begins to look like in this life, and how that life is now driven by God's promises and word. We do all of this because we have been treated a certain way. we are who we are because of what we have received but i want to make sure that i say up front today everything that jesus has said in the sermon on the mount it's not a lighter standard he is not a gentler moses he has raised everything to fulfillment and the reality is everything that jesus has said so far in the sermon on the mount for us, as in ourselves, is impossible for us. Jesus is not lowering the standard here. A Christian must indeed, as his follower, strive to obey him. Jesus takes that seriously. He wants us to take this seriously, who we are in the new creation. He wants us to appreciate this. He wants us to pursue this. He's calling us to that. and before us today christ provides a way to actually lay claim to that new creation status to lay claim to what he calls us to do and to be and this becomes in correlation with his teaching on prayer an answer to us and a gracious you'll notice here offer in the midst of the sermon on the mount to those who are his children this sermon is a sermon to the new created people of god it is not a sermon that is given for generally everyone to practice in the world it's impossible it's impossible it's a gracious promise that is here given in the midst of the sermon on the mount which shows that he's aiming this sermon to the new creation of his people that he has made bringing them into the kingdom of heaven already that we might begin to look like the lord in this life that we might begin to have a witness of him in this life so this morning i want to look at this moving text by considering here you'll notice here the gracious provision that is announced from a number two gracious father and what should be our in return gracious response that's the outline today a gracious provision from a gracious father and our gracious response in all of this which is outlined here in this section notice verse one where he makes this gracious provision 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 and the one who seeks finds and the one who knocks it will be open what a statement i think we come to the first sort of directive in the sermon on the mount after all this instruction after all this guidance in the lord's way correction of the christian's relationship to the law and hypocritical religion and we looked at last time we're gonna look at here in a minute judging again what a statement to hold out to us like much of jesus's well-known statements this one of course is surrounded with much misunderstanding what is jesus saying to us well how easy it would be to do what so many have done in the history of the christian church with a passage like this it seems so self-evident but you still have to say it because it's still done that people have done in sort of a health wealth prosperity idea that the lord is offering to us anything we ask if we just ask him if we just knock hard enough and he'll give it to us but here we're sort of immediately confronted not only with the selfishness of that but it has nothing to do with the context in which jesus gives it you might think of c.s lewis who said that our desires are not too big but they're too small and in that case too were earthly and too worldly to know what even is happiness in this life it's self-centered jesus is after something way better for us much more fulfilling tied into the beatitudes that started this sermon of the blessed life that he has for his sheep that he's determined for his sheep the life that will indeed make them happy what is jesus saying here ask seek knock as you know what i always try to do what i hope to help you to do as a pastor is to help you read the scriptures jesus has laid out things for us that seem impossible in fact there are many people Well, we've taken that position on the Sermon on the Mount. It's just impossible. And maybe as good Reformed folk, we just stand back from it and say, well, you can't do it. You can't do it. You can't do it. Praise God for Christ. Well, that's generally true. But what are we talking about? Justification? It's no little moment that he puts in a gracious offer in between sandwiched in between the two most difficult calls of the sermon on the mount did you notice that that the shocking thing is and this is how jesus keeps us on our feet as he always does um how does verse 12 fit this so whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them how does that fit ask seek not that's the conclusion to this it's important to think about how to read the scriptures it's no little moment that he sandwiches this in between judge not lest you be judged and so do uh do unto others as you would have them do to you ask seek knock chapter five was think about the hard thing said in the sermon on the mount just for a second chapter 5 was all about clarifying the demands of the law from the heart the sermon exposed all kinds of so far phony and hypocritical approaches to god in prayer and in worship and in fasting and giving and then he said how about this one do not store up your treasures on earth where moths and rust destroy store them up in heaven how's that make you feel a few weeks ago i preached in charleston and the sermon on the mountain i preached that passage for a dear friend and i had a message from one of the attendees and here's what he said I've been quite intrigued by that passage for some time. And I'm most curious about the command from Jesus to not lay up treasures on earth. But to lay up treasures in heaven. That's a very direct command from Jesus. And it seems no one actually does it. We spend our time saving for our retirement and days storing up treasures on earth. That's all we do. I think that's exactly how many people feel with the Sermon on the Mount. I'm pretty sure that's how you felt with the Sermon on the Mount as I've gone through it. That Jesus is simply telling us things that are impossible. I've got good news for you. That's true. That's absolutely true. You were told not to be anxious. How you doing? Some of you want to laugh hard right now because you're all anxious. That you are so to trust God in all of life's circumstances that God will carry every burden for you. You live like that? How do you do? How hard is that? Then we sort of hit the climax last week. judge not lest you be judged I told my wife I don't know how that sermon went nobody said a word to me afterward it's like it was like dazed and confused walking out everyone was quiet because it struck every one of us I do rash judgments against people all the time i can only surmise that it was deeply convicting judge not lest you be judged for with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged and the measure you use it will be measured back to you you hypocrites you always look at the straw in your brother's eye but refuse to look at the big chunk of wood in your own we're all sideways on judging each other as i said making judgments we run around thinking it's unloving to tell anybody anything is wrong that they do and so we've made it a life a way of life of standing in judgment over people in the wrong sense and the rash hypocritical sense what hypocrites you refuse to tell people they're right and wrong on worship or whatever you get mad when people do that and you're sitting in judgment on people all the time that's the effect of it now did i get excited enough to make my point the ethic of the new creation who feels good about themselves in this any kind of right response would be so far any kind of right response you could tune it out you could not listen could just say ah forget it who can please this god kind of right response would say oh wretched man that i am who will rescue me from this body of death and praise god that in justification by grace through faith alone he gives you a righteousness that's full and complete the intention in receiving the righteousness of christ and in now being his children is not to continue to act like that that's his intention and all these things he said jesus is not saying all these hard things to us for us to admire for us to stand and say wow i'm pretty convicted today or merely to become hearers and not doers of the word quoting james and this is where discouragement in the christian life enters right here right here right here i'm on it i think because i know it of myself some tune this all out thinking this god is hard that's what old testament israel said who can please him who can please him he's laying burdens on us that are unattainable i think others maybe maybe there's some here right now that's your view of god there are others who are deeply troubled by all this and just feel like giving up there are others who will say i'll do better is that what god wants all are wrong all are wrong jesus now the gracious teacher answers all these struggles for you his children i hope it wakes up the one who thinks of god as a tyrant i hope it comforts the one who sits here deeply struggling over sin i hope it confronts the one who thinks they can do it in their own strength do we care do we desire the righteous life he calls us to do we want it sincerely as christians then listen to him i believe that about you that you're not playing the game of the pharisees i believe we're not just here for the sake of the tradition i believe that you care about what jesus wants for you so listen to him i have a gracious provision to give you ask seek and this is our burden we feel constantly like there's no help the real issue is that our desires are often wrong they're too self-centered and too small he has already said he'll provide for you in body and soul he already said in the previous section why are you being anxious am i not going to take care i take care of the birds of the air we're not talking about your bodily needs here You could apply it, I'm sure, but that's not really the context. He said he's already going to do that. He's going to care for your bodies. He's going to feed you. He's going to provide for you. He's going to uphold your lives. That's not what he's talking about here. So what are we talking about here? What are we asking for? What are we knocking for? What are we seeking for? What's the immediate context? Probably the hardest statement in the Sermon on the Mount. How are you treating others? Are you judging others? I trust by now you know that's not Christian behavior. So what did Jesus do before your eyes in the word here? He just gave you a promise. He just gave you a promise. He just pledged himself to help you. And he gives this overwhelming, gracious offer to you. It might be said this way. The reason you're so defeated in the Christian life, the reason that you feel downcast at times, the reason why you feel so little progress, the reason why you judge and complain about everything and judge everyone, and the reason you're so bitter, or the reason you feel the Christian life is impossible, or the reason the quality of your Christian life is so poor, and the reason that you're never growing, is because you have little idea what it means to ask, seek, and knock. Here's the test. What do you want from God? What do I want? Jesus is describing the blessed life of the Beatitudes here. The reason for the seeming lack of progress and the guilt is as one pastor said precisely because we're not appropriating what christ has said to us here ask seek knock they're all saying the same thing you don't need to try to figure out. I promise you grace. I promise you help. First is the powerful call in the Sermon on the Mount. This is the first powerful call in the Sermon on the Mount that is expressing the impossibility to do anything apart from the Lord. That's what he's telling us. We need him you can't lead this life without him in the life of sanctification justification is an act of free grace this is what christ came to do to give you a righteousness so you can stand before the holiness of god sanctification is that whole process throughout life of walking with your god and maintaining the witness that he gave you to have but because you don't ask you do not have Or when you ask, you ask that you might spend it on your pleasure, said James. What Christ is pledging himself to help us with and promising to do is to sanctify us in his will. In the new creation. The whole point of the last week was the very motivation to not rashly judge people. To not enter a rash, hypocritical, complaining, ugly-spirited judgments with people. Why? Because that's what God's done for you. He didn't do that. That was great encouragement. That produces in us what He desires. He wants us to have a blessed character that He gives us. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the meek. That's what you are. notice here here's what i want to emphasize here notice what jesus is saying he says it twice ask seek and knock to him who asks it will be answered to him who seeks they will find to him who knocks the door will be open did you notice the emphasis here on persistence keep on asking keep on seeking keep on knocking it's persistence he's talking about it's so important it's a pledge of help remember the little widow in luke 18 who was receiving injustice in the world and she kept going to the judge all day long and the judge who was a wicked judge a careless judge just got tired of her and she kept coming and she kept coming and she kept coming to the judge to ask for justice and he said get go away go away go away finally answered because he just got tired of her coming and jesus says do you think your father's treating you that way he's not tired of you coming he began it by saying men ought always to pray and not lose heart that's the christian life it's the character of the new creation constant dependency much of christian life is so up and down precisely because we often come to the lord with the wrong things but jesus is saying in the new creation will be found as his people continue to seek him to seek his life to ask him for these things to store up treasures in heaven for righteous character for the kind of character that fits the very character we've received from god jesus is saying come to your father and that's just where he goes here notice it which of you look at the gracious father gracious provision to gracious father 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 serpent this all comes down to i said in the previous message you have to know your father you have to know your father i fear maybe maybe some of us have had harsh fathers in this life or harsh husbands or maybe you've been exposed at some point in life or maybe you've heard preaching that makes it seem that God is always angry and God is always displeased with you and that you're such a failure He turns away from you especially because of all those same stupid sins that you do. Listen, Jesus has not diagnosed all these issues and calls us to this without gracious provision. What do you think about your Father? I'm not talking about your heavenly father. What do you think about him? What do you think about him? How do you view him? Those who don't know him stay as far away from him as possible. You can't convince them worship's even important. They're full of judgmental spirits. And those who do not know him see him and all of this as an intrusion on their life of autonomy and freedom. They still don't know their father. Listen to the son tell you about your father. If you have a good father in this life, at the best imaginable, does He not care about you? Is that not built into nature, creation? Does He not want to provide for you? I say no to my kids sometimes because it's for their benefit, but deep down, I'd love to give them everything right now. Any good father, I think, would. The father of the prodigal son, the son asked and before the dad was even dead he gave him the whole inheritance that's a good father Jesus says yeah and if your fathers do that you know what they're still evil doing that here's the remarkable truth if people who are evil could give good gifts what do you think of your father in heaven will he not give good things to those who ask will he not encourage and help you will he not in grace secure secure you he punished his son in your place for you what manner of love the father has that he's bestowed upon us that we should be called from another country children of god what What manner of love is this? What will the Father provide? The greatest gift congregation, beloved. Here's how it goes in Luke's gospel. Listen to the comparison. 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 what? the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Ah, there it is. That's what you need. That's the new creation. He just promised to give you the Holy Spirit that gives you a life pertaining to everything in godliness. That's the gift of the new creation, the Spirit. A gracious provision, a gracious Father to conclude today as we come to the table with this, a gracious response from us. How? We're not giving grace back to God. What do I mean? The most challenging section in the Sermon on the Mount we just came through, judging others. And so he concludes, so, he's right back to it. Golden rule, whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For that's the law and the prophets. That's a statement. That's a statement. That's the law and the prophets. That's the summary and fulfillment of all the law and the prophets right there. The behavior of my children in my kingdom of heaven, new creation by the Spirit. You are asking for this. What I have done to bring the Old Testament redemptive kingdom to fulfillment. Listen, this is what he's saying. What I have done in bringing the redemptive Old Testament kingdom to fulfillment is this. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That's what Jesus did. Let's think about that for just a second and we'll come to the table. Mind-blowing. What do you want people to do to you? What does it mean, love your neighbor as yourself? You can't even understand that. Until you know what's been done for you. What's been done for you by God? What did Jesus fulfill? The law and the prophets. How so? He's speaking to you here, beloved, not the world. What does a sinner who realizes his need want done for him? What do you, who know your need, want done for you? right now? What do you want done for you? How great if a righteous man laid down his life for such a person. How wonderful it would be if someone helped us. How wonderful it would be if someone loved us and rescued us in our lost state. How wonderful if someone saved us and gave his life for us. That's what Jesus did. What do you want God to do for you? What do you wish others would do for you? Be kind, merciful, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, forgiving you, helping you, not rashly condemning you, when you have by the grace of God some conception of what you are and who you are and what you've done, that means everything to you. And what you did to Him, we won't go into right now. This is precisely what God in Christ has done for you evidence that you know him evidence that you've received grace is that you would showcase that kind of character now in doing the very things to others that you desired and ask god to do for you you see that kind of life fulfills the intention of the law jesus fulfilled all righteousness but that fills the intention of the law as making a beginning of it in this life that kind of response demonstrates to our neighbor the thankful love we have for a god who loves us like this the miserable way we have chosen has made life all about us and that's why it's miserable the blessed life in christ asks seeks and knocks right now as we come to a table and he provides and he answers and he says take eat this is my body drink this is my blood for you i will answer you i will help you i will strengthen you i will nourish you praise god in christ that he loved us and set us free from his righteous judgment i think this must have been at the heart of john 13 when after jesus washed their feet he asked do you know what i've done to you now think about it do you know what i've done in an incarnation and coming to you and becoming a servant go do likewise for i've given you my spirit let's pray heavenly father bless us now help us as we come to your table to come with confidence repentance faith confidence and all that you've done for us in christ may that fundamentally change who we are as your people a new creation of people who are different in this world, of people who are loved by You. May that witness be shown in our lives by the power of Your Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.