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September 28, 2021 8:00 am
The whole point of this passage is is that you cannot get on your own. This is a statement of grace, not a statement calling you to try even harder when you recognize your failure. Welcome to the truth that with Don great founding pastor of truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio hello again, I bill right and were continuing our series.
Yours for the asking. Part two of a message titled growth for the asking. Last time Don reminded us that the kind of asking God expects from us is for our spiritual growth, but because we cannot in our own power achieve it ourselves. You'll see today why our requests for growth must be continual will also be encouraged about the sureness of God's answer to the right kind of prayer, so have your Bible open and ready as we join Pastor Don Greene now give the truthful now. Secondly, were going to see is that it is a sustained request is a sustained request. This is really crucial for you to understand English. The English language has difficulty in many ways, but it has a particular difficulty in doing justice to what Jesus is saying here in these two verses. When you read these verses in your English Bible you could understand it as something that is a one time request asking you will receive will. God I ask you to make me like this and then you go forward and you never come back to it again. I asked him, so apparently I'm going to receive might be the way one request one answer that's simple enough wow was that easy.
All of this effort.
All I needed to do was one time say those magic words and it would be mine, never to be troubled by my sinful nature again and have a great actually wouldn't because that's not true. Not good to want things that aren't true.
You see that one request one answer thing is not what the underlying Greek text means at all. All the commands in verse seven. Our present tense imperatives in the original language that has a great significance for what were talking about here. This will revolutionize the way that you think about these things. Those present tense imperatives are calling for repeated action. They are calling for continual action. Do this again and again and again the spirit of these of these commands of Jesus gives is like this. Ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you seek and keep on seeking, and you'll find not keep on knocking the door will be open to a truly significant beloved. What Jesus is teaching you. Here is not to make a one time request under the press of an emotional reaction to a one time sermon like this.
He's doing this all listen to me carefully.
There is so much at stake with what I'm about to say. More importantly, the way that you respond to it.
What Jesus is doing here in verse seven and verse eight is he is cultivating an attitude of dependence in those who realize they cannot fulfill the righteousness of God alone. He is teaching his disciples to have a settled repeated attitude of dependence of need of trust as they come to him again and again and again.
God I understand I can't fulfill this and so I ask you to help me today, Monday comes God. I realize that I still can't fulfill this. I'm asking you again to help me fulfill it that's in the morning at noon. God, I still need your help cultivating me.
Give me this righteousness of which you speak. January comes and goes.
February come to July you're still saying the same thing is still the same attitude asking. Keep on asking, seeking keep on seeking, knocking keep on knocking. This is part of the way that Jesus is teaching us to seek his first his kingdom and his righteousness is through this ongoing sense of dependence that this is a repeated priority of yours in prayer.
God I want to be like this. God help me, God give me the spiritual resources that are necessary, strengthen me, subdue my flesh overcome my sinfulness that I might start to taste more and more of this glorious righteousness which Christ is called me to. It's a sustained request about spiritual things is a repeated request about righteousness is an ongoing prayer for an ongoing need now is a side note in this Texel to verse seven with me again. I could read it again will do that now. As a side note it says 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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. This is a side point. But it's an important side point and I'm trying to help you as you perhaps hear others teach on this passage to understand something very very important.
There are some well-meaning Bible teachers who see a progressive urgency in Jesus's words here and they they approach the passage like this. They say if you wanted. You ask for it you seek. If you're really serious about it though. You can ask that's kind of the preliminary effort that you make. But then you seek it because that's really that's it's even more important than you realized, and then you start knocking because it's just absolutely urgent to you and so they they would see a progressive development of urgency through the different birds asks economic and so in their understanding, knocking is the most crucial verb in this whole passage and you start to knock when you're really really serious about this righteousness can't tell you a secret. So what Jesus means here is always talking about. Actually, no secret talk about publicly right exegetical. He that simply does not work if knocking was the climax of this passage, you would expect it to be the key verb you expect knocking to be the key verb, but it's not ask is the key verb ask, is the verb that is repeated in each of these five verses look at verse seven. Ask and it will be given to you. Verse eight everyone who asks receives verse nine. His son asks for a loaf verse 10, he asks for a fish. Verse 11 how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him see the repetition of the verb shows that asking is the key verb here and you cannot make it so that knock is somehow higher than asking when all through this passage Jesus is saying, ask ask ask ask see to say to say that asking is an entry-level desire seeking is intermediate and then the advanced doctoral work is when you're knocking that sets up a pattern that is that that is the exact opposite of what Jesus is teaching here. See, this is very practical and everyone of you who is had any spiritual desires and your life will relate to what I'm saying Jesus is not calling you in this passage to try harder in prayer and that's what that's what this progressive thing of asking level I seeking level II knocking level III that that that multi tiered that multilevel thing might work in in Amway and multilevel marketing. That might work someplace else. It doesn't work here that is not what Jesus is telling you is is that if you haven't received it. You gotta try harder and try even harder after that. The whole point of this passage is is that you cannot attain it on your own. This is this is a statement of grace, not a statement calling you to try even harder when you recognize your failure. What's he saying then this asking keep on asking this seeking keep on seeking this knocking. Keep on knocking, watch this beloved. This is gorgeous this is beautiful.
What's he saying when he says that asking, seeking, and knocking are all different ways of simply expressing the same idea. He is teaching you the value he is calling you to this a an attitude of patient consistency in your request asking. Keep on asking.
Let me explain. Let me give you different picture seeking keep on seeking all tell you the same thing from a different way of looking at it knocking.
Keep on knocking, he is teaching you to sustain your request for grace over time. If it seems like the door hasn't been answered at your first knock knock again. If you haven't found it with your first seeking seek again if you didn't get the answer to your question.
The first time the answer to your request.
Ask again see it's the same idea, just three different perspectives on doing it. The whole idea is is rooted in you is asking. Keep on asking knocking. Keep on knocking, seeking keep on seeking, and here's what all of this means were going to type big bow around what everything that was said so far as you are seeking the spiritual growth in your life and you inevitably find multiplied stumbles along the way, because Scripture says James 32 we all stumble in many ways stumble often stumble in a lot of different ways and it's very easy to get very discouraged along the way, isn't it, to feel the crushing weight of your own sin when you're seriously, earnestly, sincerely, desiring righteousness, and I stumble again and again and again and I am just so frustrated. Jesus speaks this word of grace into it and says my child. Here's what you are to do. You are to ask for grace from God in the midst of that and yes you will stumble again and ask for more grace and you'll have periods where it seems to be going well and ask for grace and ask for grace and asked for grace again and again and again see spiritual growth requires the help of the Holy Spirit. You cannot sanctify yourself in your own power or by your own efforts. Yes, you must put forth effort. Yes, you need to read your Bible yes you need to pray, but you need the help of the Holy Spirit to help you to make that process work and have power in it so that there is a real, lasting change that comes to you that lasting change that every true Christian somewhere in his heart really wants to happen. I know I do. Don't you want to keep being this mediocre Christian that I am I don't live like this lukewarm spirit that so often animates me who I am inside. I like that want to change. We need the help of God to do that. And here is where you need to pay attention. I point my finger to encourage you not to be rude. Beloved, do not expect a one time blessing to come that will settle your sanctification for the rest of your life.
Some of you probably heard that teaching are plenty of people over the years, a teacher at South way works.
You don't expect a one time blessing to settle your sanctification forever. You see, God has designed it so that you would learn a daily dependence on him. A daily coming back and saying God. This is the desire of my heart. Help me live righteously here help me to grow spiritually here conforming to the image of Christ. Here again and again and again.
And here's the genius of what Jesus is saying God meets your ongoing dependence with an ongoing supply given out, day by day, moment by moment. Just as the children of Israel as they walked through the wilderness, day by day, God gave the manna to eat day by day they had to go out and gather what they needed for their physical sustenance during those 40 years in the wilderness, day by day they had to go out and gather the ideas that on an ongoing way you go out and gather you go out and ask God help me be this way. Now God, look at the difficulties in their life a pray that you would sanctify them to the good of their souls. God is he's experiencing so much prosperity and I'm glad for that. The God help them to grow in righteousness. Father, sanctify them in the truth.
Your word is truth. God second Peter 318. Help them to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
See, I know that many of you pray for me and I'm very grateful for that. But I don't really you want to pray for my health, great want to pray to God help me. Great. Thank you. Appreciate that, but if you really want to pray for me. Pray that I'm growing righteousness. Pray God would sanctify me more and more that's how I pray for you as well and we pray this way. Over time, and what this does is we recognize our spiritual need and we request God's grace with a sustained repeated ongoing request for spiritual growth.I have arrived.
I need your help to grow still more, and so that prayer sustains you when you're up sustains you when you're stumble God here I am stumbling. I need to dust myself off of more sin. God you see why I was praying this way before. I'm renewing it now. This prayer is always in season. This is always the right way for you to pray God conforming God help me God change me that I might become more and more the righteous person that you want me to be and this becomes what you want more than anything I've said I've said in the past multiple multiple times at least twice what the person prays for, is really revealing where their heart really really is what they really really want God. God, I have this I have this magnificent blessing of access to you through Christ. If you have that access and you know the God answers than what is it that you ask for. Is it the lofty things of which Christ speaks in the sermon on the mount or is it stuff it's going to pass with using and so there's kind of a very thing about this kind of a gateway. As you enter into the courtyard of prayer you walk through this gate that says why is it that I'm coming in here. What is it that I want as I step into this garden where God receives prayer. I'm thinking before I pass through that gate. Lord, what is it that I want here Lord what I want is I want to smell the sweet perfume of the roses of righteousness manifesting themselves in my life.I want to see the beauty of transformation in my soul that I be more like Christ. That's what I want as I pray here and so it's a spiritual request that you sustain over time and the fact here's the grace and it hears some of the grace and it will my friends, is the fact that the fact that you stumbled doesn't mean that you can't pray that way. That doesn't exempt you or to your mean the God won't receive your prayer, you're just saying once again the fact that that your dependence and your need is been manifested before you and will and in the consciousness of your need into that very point of failure. Jesus says, ask, and it will be given to Jesus. SC can you find knock and the door will be open and you ask and you pray that way. Over a period of time and you know what you find.
You know what you find you don't find perfection in a day, but as you as this becomes what what animates you, you find that a year from now your you're a little more sanctify than you were today five years from now you've grown in grace your priorities have changed your desires are more consistent you love Christ more and more faithful in evangelism or your you're more faithful to the people of the Lord and you've changed over time and that becomes the source of your incursion perfectly. I say okay but you know what, I'm not what I used to be. Praise God for that. I'm not what I should be.
I'm not what I will be glorified the praise, not what I was and that is the spirit in which we pursue these things, so it's a spiritual request. It's a sustained request .3 here's the best part. It is a sure request. It is a sure request by which I mean God answers this kind of praying you see it three times in Matthew chapter 7 verse seven look at it again with me. Matthew seven verse seven ass keep on asking, and here's a promise it will be given to you seek. Keep on seeking to find, knock, keep on knocking, and it will be open to you. You know these are passive verbs of first and last one or passive verbs. It will be given to you will be open to who is it that's doing the giving.
Who is it that's doing the opening of the God you pray see when we pray this way we are laying hold of a great promise from God that says I will answer and bless a sustained request for spiritual growth. I will do that he says and so three times. It will be given to you will find it will be open to those promises are unqualified God will produce the change that you seek when you come to him with this kind of request, Jesus reinforces the promise in the next verse, verse 84. He says because let me let me reinforce what I just said in verse seven. Here, I'll say it again in verse eight for everyone who asks receives.
He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be open. Jesus puts the credibility and the truthfulness of God on direct display and stakes the veracity and the integrity of God on what he says here he says everyone who asks. In this manner will receive. He who seeks in this manner will find to him who knocks it will be opened. Everyone who asks receives.
He who seeks finds its open to him who knocks. Now this is glorious because it means something to everyone of you.
It means something to every lowly Christian, perhaps overlooked by the world, perhaps alone in many ways in your walk with Christ without without much encouragement around you, perhaps in your family or loved ones. Suppose you fight against you. Just so much resistance to say nothing of your own spiritual inadequacy inside beloved Jesus says, everyone who asks, will receive. This is not a promise reserved for the prominent.
This is in a special enclave where only the pastor can go in. This is open to you as it is to me this is open to you as it is to John MacArthur or any other Bible teacher anywhere in the world.
This is something that God promises to every one of his children. This is not something that is earned through earthly stature. This is something that is received when his humble child comes in humbly asks. This is not excluded from brand-new Christians, beloved, just as your request is ongoing. God's provision for this kind of spiritual growth. The spiritual change is also ongoing. He gives today he gives tomorrow.
He gives repeatedly as you continually ask for grace to change God continually gives it to you may portion it out a little more deliberately than what you might like to see word. Jesus is telling us look at this over the long haul.
Do this again and again and again.
Do this in a way that says this is my life goal, and I will walk step-by-step along the way seeking. I will gather the spiritual manner day by day that's the spirit of this and so beloved, we come to this key question would you grow spiritually. Would you like to change spiritually. Would you like to see yourself more. Sanctify is that what you don't answer that question too quickly. When you find that the answer is yes, that is what I want. That is what I would have from God, beloved thing. God's answer to that request of your heart is yes, he will give it to you. This kind of spiritual growth, of which we've been speaking beloved. It is yours for the asking. To summarize our request before God needs to be for spiritual growth and be sustained if so you can be sure of an answer that results in your being more like Christ pastor Don Greene will have more of our series, yours for the asking.
Next time you're on the truth pulpit, so don't miss a moment right now. Here's done with some closing words will hello my friend. I want to thank you for listening to the truth pulpit.
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