Prayer and others

Follow instructions?

Are you good at following instructions?

Jesus has given lots of instructions in the Sermon on the Mount some of them being:

Rejoice in persecution (5:12)

Can’t enter the kingdom unless your righteousness surpasses the Pharisees (5:20)

If someone slaps you, offer them your other cheek (5:39)

Love your enemy(5:44)

Pray in the closet (6:6)

Forgive others (6:13)

Don’t judge others (7:1)

Lot’s of instructions right? Those sound hard don’t they? Well there were lot’s of other ones too that sounded much better, but today we get to a great one, but Jesus double’s back to talk more about prayer. I think prayer is an important subject in the bible.

Today we are looking at

More instructions on prayer

The Golden rule

Our passage

Matthew 7:7–9 NASB95

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?

Matthew 7:10–12 NASB95

10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 “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 what is good to those who ask Him! 12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

There are three instructions given in this passage (vv.7-8)?

Ask, seek, knock

What are the results if you follow the instructions(vv.7-8)?

Will be given; You will find; It will be opened to you

We will get into the illustration (vv.9-11) and the golden rule (v.12) in a few minutes.

Keep at in prayer

Importance, importance, importance. Jesus already discussed prayer back in Mt6:5-15 right? Gave some instructions, simple example.

First we ask, we need to make our request known to God

Php4:6-7 “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

According to this verse (v.7) it says it will be given to you. - — - - some say you will receive. Now it does not say what you ask for, it says given, you will receives, receives what it does not say. - - receiving is a reward for asking.

Next is to seek: Seeking is seeking not God, but seeking out God’s word, God’s will through God’s word. When we do that we will find God’s will through God’s word.

Next is knocking: Why do we knock on a door? 1. because a door is closed before us and we want the door to be opened. 2. There is something that is hindering us from going forward. 3. There is something that we desire on the other side of the door, or we would not be knocking in the first place, right? 4. If the door was already open we would have just walked through it already. Jesus encouraged them even if the door is closed to knock and it will be opened to you.

Clarke said this about this part of the passage: “ asks with confidence and humility. Seek with care and application. Knock with earnestness and perseverance.”

Let me double back to knocking for a minute I found another quote from Spurgeon this one a little longer but worthy to be shared.

“any uneducated man can knock if that is all, which is required of him…A man can knock though he may be no philosopher. A dumb man can knock. A blind man can knock. With a palsied hand a man may knock. . . the way to open heaven’s gate is wonderfully simplified to hose who are lowly enough to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and ask, seek, and knock believingly. God has not provided salvation based on education, understanding by learned men, but on who ask, seek, knock the door will be opened to them. It is plain, it is simple, it is available.”

God’s giving nature, example

After giving instructions, Jesus gives example using the nature of man, hypothetically speaking.

What assumptions does Jesus make in (vv.9-11)?

That You son (children) will ask for things and as a father you will give them things that they ask for

You are evil, and you will give good gifts

Heavenly Father will give what is good to those who ask.

Think back to the previous verses, so what is good? SALVATION

God knows what is good, sometimes we ask for the wrong things (serpent) without even knowing it, we have great intentions but ask out of ignorance. We pray and ask for salvation, but without repentance. We repent without out belief that Christ was raised from the dead. We belief Christ can forgive our sins but we are not baptized for the forgiveness of our sins, all of these are not getting the the loaf they are getting the stone, not intentionally but unintentionally.

Your heavenly Father knows what is good and wants to give you good, knows that is good and will give you what is good to those who ask Him.

What are we asking? are we asking the right things? Our Heavenly Father knows what we need. So ask, seek, knock, and you will find, receive and it will be opened for you. Your part is to do it. God will do his part!

Golden Rule

Matthew 7:12 NASB95

12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Here is more of the ethical teaching of Jesus, or a summation of all the ethical teaching of Jesus.

This was not a new teaching, it was not a biblical teaching, but it was a positive teaching in the manner it was given. Others taught before in a negative lite to the positive

Even Jews could paint in the negative (Rabbit Hillel (a.d. 20) said: “what is hateful to you, do not do to anyone else. This is the whole law; all the rest is commentary Go and learn it.” (quoted by Carson).

Jesus commands us to “love on another as I have loved you” Remember He did not love the loveable, he loved all. the one who betrayed, the one who denied, the ones who abandoned, the ones who persecuted, who would arrest, who would crucify him. He did not wait for them to love Him, he loved His enemies. He lived the golden rule, love others as he would have them love Him. For this is the law of the prophets.

We still have some time today, let’s press on with a couple more verses.

How to enter

Matthew 7:13–14 NASB95

13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

How does it say to enter, and enter into what?

Why must you enter that way?

The narrow way is through Jesus for Jn14:6 says

Jn14:6 “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

That eliminates every other way, that is pretty narrow. For every other way is broad and leads to destruction (hell).

Let me ask a question if you are told to enter through Jesus, must you enter Jesus way? Does Jesus tell us the way to enter? Is there any other way? Can we pick and choose? Maybe that is the reason why it is narrow?

closing comments, prayer, close