Matthew 7 Verses 7 to 11 Prayer Power June 9, 2024

Matthew 7 Verses 7 to 11 Prayer Power June 9, 2024 Lesson 10 The Sermon on the Mount Class Presentation Notes AAAA

Background Scriptures:

Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV) 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV) 3 'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'

Luke 11:9-10 (NKJV) 9 "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. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

John 14:13-14 (NKJV) 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

John 15:7 (NKJV) 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

John 15:16 (NKJV) 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

John 16:23-24 (NKJV) 23 And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

James 4:2-3 (NKJV) 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Main Idea:

God answers our prayers as a wise loving father responds to the requests of his children.

Study Aim:

Pray for God’s kingdom plan for our lives to be manifested in us.

Create Interest:

· Any person who prays is bound to want to know to what kind of God he is praying. He wants to know in what kind of atmosphere his prayers will be heard. Is he praying to a grudging God out of whom every gift has to be squeezed and coerced? Is he praying to a mocking God whose gifts may well be double-edged? Is he praying to a God whose heart is so kind that he is more ready to give than we are to ask?

· In Luke, the narrative is immediately preceded by the story of the man awakened from sleep at midnight by an importunate neighbor who needs bread to feed a guest (Luke 11:5–8). Prayer requires stamina and persistence.[1]

· ACTS is an acronym to guide us in our prayer approach:

o Adoration Confession Thanksgiving Supplication

o While not approached this way in this lesson, I want us to consider this to help us in our prayer time.

o Our lesson dives right into Supplication, encourages persistence and a humble approach.

Lesson in Historical Context:

· Jesus came from a nation which loved prayer. The Jewish Rabbis said the loveliest things about prayer. “God is near to his creatures as the ear to the mouth.” “Human beings can hardly hear two people talking at once, but God, if all the world calls to him at the one time, hears their cry.” “A man is annoyed by being worried by the requests of his friends, but with God, all the time a man puts his needs and requests before him, God loves him all the more.” Jesus had been brought up to love prayer; and in this passage he gives us the Christian charter of prayer.

· Jesus’ argument is very simple. One of the Jewish Rabbis asked, “Is there a man who ever hates his son?” Jesus’ argument is that no father ever refused the request of his son; and God the great Father will never refuse the requests of his children.[2] He is always there to receive/listen to their requests.

Thoughts of soak on as you proceed on with this lesson:

· God will always answer our prayers; but he will answer them in his way, and his way will be the way of perfect wisdom and of perfect love.

o Often if he answered our prayers as we, at the moment, desired it would be the worst thing possible for us, for in our ignorance we often ask for gifts which would be our ruin. Obviously, God won’t do that.😊

o This saying of Jesus tells us, not only that God will answer, but that God will answer in wisdom and in love.

· Although this is the charter of prayer, it lays certain obligations upon us

o The imperatives here are presentimperatives; therefore, Jesus is saying,

§ “Go on asking; go on seeking; go on knocking.”

§ He is telling us to persist in prayer; he is telling us never to be discouraged in prayer.

§ Clearly therein lies the test of our sincerity. Do we really want a thing?

📷 Is a thing such that we can bring it repeatedly into the presence of God, for the biggest test of any desire is: Can I pray about it?

· Jesus here lays down the twin facts that:

o God will always answer our prayers in his way,

o In His wisdom

o in His grace and love.

o We must bring to God a life of prayer, which tests the rightness of the things we pray for, and which tests our own sincerity in asking for them.

Bible Study:

Matthew 7:7-11 (NKJV) 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, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 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 good things to those who ask Him!

· Vs. 7: Ask, and it will be given to you. James 4:2 says, “Ye have not, because ye ask not.” How true that is today. How many people there are who are challenged by many things because they have not learned to present their petitions before God.

o Someone will inquire, “Does not Isaiah say that, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear”? “If the Lord knows all of our needs, and the very desires of our hearts, why then should we pray, and present our petition?”

· The answer to this question is found in John 16:24, “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” The Lord likes to be asked. As our Heavenly Father enjoys giving to His children, when they ask Him to give. The greatest joy that comes in our lives is that joy of fellowship, which is ours, when we talk to God, and tell Him the desires of our heart.

o Let us ask that our joy may be full. The Lord Himself, who was God in flesh, began His ministry in prayer. He never attempted any great task until He spent much time in prayer.[3]

· The letter of James (4:3) has some stern warnings about asking for the wrong sort of things, and any full discussion of prayer needs to take this into account. But, for most of us, the problem is not that we are too eager to ask for the wrong thing………………..

o The problem is that we are not eager enough to ask for the right things.

o And ‘the right things’ doesn’t simply mean fine moral qualities (though if you dare to pray for holiness, humility or other dangerous things, God may just give them to you). It means the things we need day by day, which God is just as concerned about as we are.

o If he is a father, let’s treat him as a father, not a bureaucrat or dictator who wouldn’t want to be bothered with our trivial and irrelevant concerns, but it is no problem whatever for our loving father.

o When he says he’s still got time, space and love to spare for us, we should take him at his word.

· Of course, as we become mature children we will increasingly share his concerns for his suffering and sorrowing world. We will want to pray for it more than for ourselves.

o But, within the kingdom-prayer that Jesus taught us, as well as praying for God’s will to be done on earth, we were taught to pray for what we ourselves need here and now. So: what’s stopping us?

· We may well say that we’ve tried it and it didn’t work. Well, prayer remains a mystery. Sometimes when God seems to answer ‘no’ we find it puzzling.

o And people have always found it strange that, if God is supremely wise, powerful and loving, shouldn’t he simply do for everybody everything that they could possibly want?

o But, as Archbishop William Temple famously said, ‘When I pray, coincidences happen; when I stop praying, the coincidences stop happening.’

o Some of the wisest thinkers of today’s church have cautiously concluded that, as God’s kingdom comes, it isn’t God’s will to bring it all at once. We couldn’t bear it if he did. God is working like an artist with difficult material; and prayer is the way some of that material co-operates with the artist instead of resisting him.

· How that is so we shall never fully understand until we see God face to face.

o That it is so is one of the most basic Chrisian insights.[4]

· Vs. 7: “seek, and you will find,” involves asking but adds action.

o The idea is not merely to express one’s need, but to get up and look around for help. It involves an effort on our part.

o The word “seek” comes from the Greek word zeteo {dzay-teh′-o} which means “to look for something earnestly and intently.” The verb tense here indicates we are to continually seek.

§ The idea of this word is a craving desire to investigate and a diligent search, not a casual kind of search. This type of seeking involves effort and energy.

§ The message here is the fact that prayer is not a casual exercise. It is more than simply going through the motions, being concerned more about form than substance.

📷 You cannot expect God to get serious about answering your prayer if you are not serious and sincere in praying your prayer. It is the effectual, fervent prayer that is effective. Note the following:

📷 Daniel prayed for twenty-one days for a revelation from God before the answer came. Satan hindered the answer.

📷 Christ prayed all night before He went to the Cross.

o James tells us that “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

§ Are we really as persistent in seeking the face of God in prayer as we should be, when we consider the above examples of continued and fervent prayer?

· God desires that we seek Him out. He wants us to find Him and know Him, if we are truly serious about getting to know Him.

o Proverbs 8:17 (NKJV) 17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.

· Vs. 7: ”knock, and it will be opened to you.” Knocking until the answer is received, found, or opened. It is being so obsessed with getting something that a person never gives up until God responds. The words ask, seek, and knock are in the present tense. A person is to keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. He is to persist in prayer.

· Vs. 8: The words receive, find, and open are also in the present tense (Mt. 7:8). This shows that the answer to prayer is more than just a promise for the future. Perhaps the thing has not yet happened, but by faith the believer knows that God has heard his prayer (see 1 Jn. 5:14–15). (See Ep. 6:18.)

Some thoughts to Soak On:

· True prayer is persevering prayer. God expects all of our prayers to be persevering. When we sense a real need to pray, we not only ask, but we seek and knock. We do not play around and glibly murmur a prayer. We pray, really pray.

· Prayer is to be often. Christ commanded prayer. He pointedly said: “Ask … seek … knock.” And, as pointed out above, He demanded that we pray often and pray with intensity.

· Vs. 9-10: The answers to our prayers are assured. But, please note:

o God is not reluctant to give. He is not sitting back disinterested and unconcerned about our welfare. He is as a loving father is to his child—loving and caring. He will not refuse the request of His dear child.

o God will not mock our requests. He does not give grudgingly (James 1:5). He does not even hesitate to give. And what He gives is not of less quality than what an earthly father gives. God does not give ragged substitutes. He gives exactly, or better than, what we ask (v. 11; Ep. 3:20). Now brace yourself before you judge this explanation.

o The thing wanted must be in God’s will. It must not be asked from selfish desires and motives. God gives only what is good and wholesome for us (1 Jn. 5:14–15; see Js. 1:17; 4:2–3).

o True prayer, persevering prayer, acknowledges our dependence upon God.When we are genuinely in need, we come to God and ask and seek and knock. This has been the experience of all believers. time and again.

· The very fact that we are asking, seeking, and knocking demonstrates that we are truly dependent upon God. We are His children, and He is our Father. Christ said that true prayer is prayer that really means business: it is sincere and genuine in its requests, and it keeps on asking and asking until God answers.[5]

More Thoughts to Soak On

· Beyond our being in His Word, He wants us to be in fellowship with Him as our Father.

· Along with His perfect and infallible Word, we need His Spirit to interpret and illumine, to encourage and to strengthen.

o He does not want us to have all the answers in our hip pocket. The Bible is a limitless store of divine truth, which a lifetime of the most faithful and diligent study will not exhaust. But apart from God Himself we cannot even start to fathom its depths or mine its riches.

o In His Word God gives enough truth for us to be responsible, but enough mystery for us to be dependent.

§ He gives us His Word not only to direct our lives but to draw our lives to Him.

· Here Jesus says, in effect, “If you want wisdom to know how to help a sinning brother and how to discern falsehood and apostasy, go to your heavenly Father. Ask, seek, and knock at the doors of heaven, and you will receive, find, and have the door opened.”[6]

So, to go a little deeper………………………

· Jesus is driving his point home, and the point is this: We are to passionately persist in prayer.

o We naturally persevere in our prayers when someone close to us is sick. If one of our children becomes ill, we pray without ceasing. Likewise, if we are in financial trouble or if we are hoping for a solution to a challenge or if we have a frightening or dangerous task ahead of us, we generally find it easy to pray.

· But do we persist in our prayers for spiritual growth for ourselves and others? Do we “ask … seek … knock” for a pure mind? Do we keep on knocking for a forgiving spirit or for the removal of an angry or critical spirit? I think that Christians usually do not! Consider what would happen if God’s people understood what Christ is saying here and put it to work

· We give ourselves to passionate prayer for our spiritual development only when we sense our need for God’s grace. God’s kingdom requires righteousness—perfection. We are called to be holy as He is holy (Leviticus 19:2). Only “the pure in heart will see God” (Matthew 5:8).

· We know that though we do good things, we are evil—that all of us, Jews and Greeks, are under sin (Romans 3:9).

o The sight of God’s perfect standard and our sin drives us to our knees and to his grace. We learn that there is no hope apart from his unearned favor.

o There is no hope for spiritual improvement apart from his continuing love and mercy. The one who sees this rejoices when he reads Jesus’ invitation to “ask … seek … knock.”

§ We are to ask and keep on asking for those things that will make us more like Jesus.

§ We are to seek and keep on seeking. We are to knock and keep on knocking.[7]

· Vs. 9-11: Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone: Jesus made it clear that God doesn’t have to be persuaded or appeased in prayer. He wants to give us not just bread, but even more than what we ask for.

o Thankfully, the times we ask for something as bad as a serpent without knowing, like a loving parent God often mercifully spares us the just penalty of our ignorance.

o If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven: It is blasphemous to deny God’s answer to the seeking heart. We then imply that God is even worse than an evil man is.

§ Instead, in comparison to even the best human father, how much more is God a good and loving father. “ ‘How much more!’ says our Lord, and he does not say how much more, but leaves that to our meditations.” (Spurgeon)[8]

· Vs. 11: The Lord now draws a similarity between an earthly father and the “Father which is in heaven”. If a man, essentially evil, possesses instinct, logic, kindness and mercy, how much more will our eternal Father demonstrate a suitable answer to prayer. In Rom 8:15 and Gal 4:6, it is the Father who is worshipped; here it is a Father who gives. As He knows the need before His people ask, so He provides what is good according to His estimate, both in daily life and in Christian service. As James 1:17 puts it, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights”.[9]

Let wrap up this brief study with some thoughts worthy of discussion and consideration.

· Prayer sounds very simple when Jesus teaches about it. Just Ask …, seek …, knock …, and in each case you will be answered. This is a deceptive simplicity, however; much lies behind it.

o First, prayer presupposes knowledge.

§ Since God gives gifts only if they accord with His will, we have to take pains to discover his will—by Scripture meditation and by the exercise of a Christian mind schooled by Scripture meditation.

o Secondly, prayer presupposes faith.

§ It is one thing to know God’s will; it is another to humble ourselves before Him and express our confidence that He is able to cause his will to be done.

o Thirdly, prayer presupposes desire.

§ We may know God’s will and believe he can perform it, and still not desire it. Prayer is the chief means God has ordained by which to express our deepest desires. This is the reason why the ‘ask—seek—knock’ commands are in the present imperative and in an ascending scale to challenge our perseverance.

· Thus, before we ask:

o we must know what to ask for and whether it accords with God’s will;

o we must believe God can grant it;

o we must genuinely want to receive.

§ To repeat a statement made previously in this lesson “He gives us His Word not only to direct our lives but to draw our lives to Him.

📷 Then the gracious promises of Jesus will come true.[10]

Pray on Brothers and Sisters in Christ who share with me as members of God’s “Church”. This isn’t simple but because of God’s Grace, God’s Love, God’s constant Availability, we can as His children experience His will in the best, worst, and all times with Joy!

Grace and peace,

[1]Robert H. Mounce, Matthew, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011), 65. [2]William Barclay, ed., The Gospel of Matthew, vol. 1, The Daily Study Bible Series (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster John Knox Press, 1976), 270-272. [3]R. E. Neighbour, Wells of Living Water: New Testament, vol. 7, Wells of Living Water (Union Gospel Press, 1940), 86–87. [4]Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 72–73. [5]Leadership Ministries Worldwide, The Gospel according to Matthew: Chapters 1:1–16:12, vol. 1, The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2004), 151. [6]John F. MacArthur Jr., Matthew, vol. 1, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 443. [7]R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2001), 235–236. [8]David Guzik, Matthew, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Mt 7:9–11. [9]John Heading, “Matthew,” in Matthew and Mark, What the Bible Teaches (John Ritchie, 2000), 112. [10]John R. W. Stott and John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian Counter-Culture, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 189–190.