The Necessity of Persistence

Introduction

We are nearly there! Then end is near! And for me, when that end comes, it’s honestly going to be a little sad. What end am I talking about? The end of the Sermon on the Mount. As of today, we have been in this series for 39 sessions. It took us 19 weeks to get through the first year and a half of Jesus’ ministry, and it has taken us more than double the amount of time, so far, to get through three chapters that take about 15 minutes to read through. And now, we are almost done. I suspect that it will take another 5-6 sessions before we are completely done with it, making the total number of session studying this particular discourse about 45. I know I am going to be excited about finishing this sub-series to our series The Way, the Truth, and the Life series, but at the same time, I’m going to be a little sad having left this behind. But don’t you worry… We still have about another year or year an a half before we finish the life of Christ.

Anyway, let’s get into our study today.

Overview

As we enter into the next set of verses in Matthew 7, we encounter one of the most comforting promises. Look at Matthew 7:7-8

Matthew 7:7–8 KJV 1900

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

This is an absolute promise, but sometimes it is a misunderstood promise. As we have done before, we will look at what this does not mean, and then we’ll take a look at what it does mean.

The biblical view of life is that life is a journey. It is a journey full of complexities, problems, and uncertainties. On this journey called life, what matters the most is not so much what we encounter along the way, but what really matters is our readiness to encounter these situations. If we take the life of Abraham as an example, we can see that he followed God joyfully and peacefully not knowing where God was leading him. Why? I think the answer can be summed up in a common phrase that we can trace back to one of the old Puritan preachers from over 300 years ago who said:

‘Abraham went out, not knowing whither he went; but he did know with whom he went.’

Though Abraham was uncertain of the destination and what things he might encounter along the way, he was perfectly happy because he knew who is travelling companion was. Abraham set out on the journey of a lifetime confidently knowing that he was not alone.

In this life, we are also on a journey. It is full of uncertainty, problems, and complexities. Christians can face it confidently like Abraham, though, because those that are Christian, those that have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ are not alone. We may not know what lies ahead, we may not realize the dangers or needs that will come upon us, we may not now how to navigate the complexities of tomorrow, but we should be confident in the Lord who is with us and who wishes to guide our every step.

And when we come to verses like Matthew 7:7

Matthew 7:7 KJV 1900

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

when we come to verses like these, it is easy to find some hope for the uncertainties of life.

These words are wonderful and gracious, but if we are to benefit fully from them, we must take a closer look at what they mean.

What the Verses Do Not Mean

First off, we need to understand that the Bible should not be used as psychological treatment. Over the years, there have been books written like The Power of Positive Thinking, The Secret, and The Law of Attraction. These books concern themselves with positive thoughts causing positive outcomes and even forcing the universe to bend to your will, manifesting the things on which you contemplate. And though there is some truth that those that think good thoughts will generally feel happier, the biblical method of living life is not going through life repeating a selection of verses that inspire hope and make you feel better. That kind of behavior only brings temporary and incomplete psychological relief.

What the Bible does do is that it conveys truth to us. There is truth in Matthew 7:7, but we must consider it for what it is and the context in which it lies. When we come to phrases like these, we must endeavor to know and apply the details to our lives. We cannot take it out of context and give it an unintended interpretation.

It is wrong to take this verse and say, “Scripture says that all I need to do is ask for whatever I want or need and it will be given to me.” There are those that use this verse in that sense, and when their request is not answered in the way they think it should be, they accuse God of not fulfilling His promises.

I like how one commentator said it: “Scripture is not something that works automatically.” We should take each passage and analyze them in the context of the Scriptures as a whole. We are not looking just to understand verses 7 and 8.

When we look at these verses this way, it is not difficult to show that this statement is not a blanket promise of God to give us anything and everything that we ask for.

And honestly, that is a good thing. This promise is actually something much bigger than that. “What could be bigger than getting every request granted?” you might ask… well, the Bible plainly tells us that God’s ways and thoughts are much higher than our thoughts.

Each of us have probably experienced it. We pray for something that God does not grant us, and at first we may be upset, but later one, we look back and we think, “I’m sure glad God didn’t answer that prayer!”

Or, in the words of the great theologian Garth Brooks,

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers

because

Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.

So this is not a blanket or universal promise that God will answer every single one of my requests and give me all of my desires.

So then, what does this verse mean?

What the Verses Do Mean

Well, in looking at the context, we must ask ourselves first, “Why did Jesus give this statement at this point in His sermon?”

Let’s remember where we are right now. We are in the seventh chapter of Matthew, the final portion of the Sermon on the Mount. The theme of this portion is judgment. We are reminded that we, as Christians, are under the constant, righteous judgment of God. God is looking at everything, recording everything, and preparing rewards or loss of rewards for what we do and say and for our motives behind it. Meaning, everything we do in this world is of great significance, and we cannot afford to take anything for granted.

Jesus starts with the question of judging others, stating that we must be careful in this because we ourselves are under judgment. He shows us the danger in condemning other people as if we are the final judges. We studied the danger of bitterness and hatred in our hearts. But then, Jesus points out that we need to remove the beam out of our own eyes before attempting to remove the speck out of another person’s eye, and we have been confronted with an incredibly high standard - ‘with what manner of judgment we judge, that is how we shall be judged.’ The effect of these teachings, and honestly, the rest of the things that we have seen in chapters 5 and 6 as well, should show us our incredible need for God’s grace.

We should be humbled by this. Again and again throughout the Sermon on the Mount, we are confronted by how unworthy and how sinful we are. From the very beginning in Chapter 5 we see that the only way to inherit the kingdom of heaven is to be humble enough to realize that we are spiritually poor. So poor that it brings us to tears because of the recognition of the sin and unworthiness that is in our life. We are confronted with the fact that it is so much harder to live up to the spirit of the law rather than just obey the letter of the law. We then get a wake up call that the reasoning behind following the spirit of the law is not for self glory, but to promote Jesus and see His influence change the world around us.

We are encouraged to pray in a way that highlights God’s sovereignty, power, control, and holiness so that when we begin to deal with the sin and trespasses in our lives, they will appear dark as night against the backdrop of God’s righteousness. Jesus then deals with out propensity to judge others unrighteously and mercilessly, only to point out the grave sin that that is.

Such high standards of, not only conduct, but primarily of attitude and spirit are expected from Christians that if you have been following this well, you might think, “It’s impossible. I couldn’t keep track of all these things that are expected of me, much less be able to accomplish them.”

And this is when Jesus says,

Matthew 7:7 KJV 1900

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

We cannot possibly live up to the standard under our own strength. We are in need of help and of cleansing and forgiveness and strength. Where can we get it? “Ask, and it shall be given unto you...”

Standing face to face with this message of the Kingdom of God, the basic message of basic Christian living that we have seen over the past 38 sermons, we have, all of us, at some point or another felt humbled and unworthy and helpless.

How can we possibly live out the Sermon on the Mount? How could we achieve this high a standard? And the Lord answers, “Ask.” Every one of us is in desperate need of God’s grace to live the way He wants us to live, to be committed to Him, to others, and to this body like we should be. But how many of us make it a practice to ask for that? “God, give me a poor spirit! Give me a hunger and a thirst for righteousness! Help me be salt and light! Forgive my bitterness and help me deal with this anger! Help me to be more interested in judging myself than I am others. Help me to live like you want me to live.”

Sean mentioned in our discussion time on Wednesday something to the effect of , “It’s really simple. If we were just to be more like Jesus, we wouldn’t have all these problems. So just be more like Jesus.” And if it is so simple, why is it so hard? Why is the quality of Christian living in so many believers so poor? We have no excuse; everything is available to us in this regard. So why are we not exemplifying the Sermon the Mount, which is basic Christian living, in the way that we should?

Because few people are asking for it. We are not seeking it. We are not knocking on the door. Christians have been so consumed by everything else in the world, by work, by sports, by entertainment, by school, by family, by “success” that there is no time to even ask, let alone seek or knock.

I think many Christians are afraid to ask, because in order to take the time to ask, they are going to have to give something up. In order to seek, they are going to have to commit time and energy and that means they will have to give other things up. And in order to knock on that door, they will have to turn their backs on everything.

But we have been so fooled by the world, so blinded by our shortsightedness, that we think that what we have going on is better or at least comparable to what Jesus has to offer as the Master and King of our lives.

So Jesus shows us why we have not received, why we have found, and why the doors of fulfilment continue to be closed to us. There are certain condition which must be met before we can experience these great benefits that are offered in Christ.

Conditions to a Victorious Christian Life

We all want peace and joy and victory in our lives. We want to be ready to meet whatever we may come across during this journey called life. And we want to be more than conquerors in the face of adversity. But for us to experience that we must realize a few things first.

We Must Realize Our Need

There is more to just quoting a verse or two about one of God’s promises and expecting to live in victory and fulfillment. When Jesus says, “Ask and it shall be given unto you...” we need to realize who it is that asks. Those that ask realize their need. Those that do not are oblivious to their need.

There are some callbacks to previous principles that we have studied that are about to happen, so stay with me as we connect these dots. From the beginning we have made it clear that Jesus has laid out the format of His sermon in a particular order, and as we have studied it, we have (hopefully) come to realize that everything does indeed build upon the previously taught principles.

Those who ask are the ones who realize their need. In other words, those who ask are the ones who are poor in spirit. They realize that in and of themselves, they cannot live the life called for by the Sermon on the Mount. So these Christians approach God on a daily basis, in prayer, asking for Him to reign in their lives, to take control and give them the guidance and the wisdom to live a life that is truly fulfilling. These disciples come to the Lord empty handed, asking to receive of Him. And when they do that of a pure heart, they receive.

Let me ask you, when was the last time you went to God and said, “Father, I cannot do anything on my own to please you. I cannot do anything in my own power or logic to live a life that is abundant. I need you, God. I need to know you more; I need to experience you more. I need your direction. I need your strength. I need you, because alone, I can’t stop from falling and failing.”

The Apostle Paul realized this. He showed his desperation when he wrote to the believers in Rome in the book of Romans chapter 7 as he lamented that within him, just like there is within every Christian, there is a war - a war between the Spirit of God that dwells in him as a believer in Christ and the fleshly, sinful nature we all possess. He exclaimed that there was a part of him that wanted to do what was right and hated that which was evil, but lamented that many times, the good that he wanted to do, he didn’t do, and instead, he ended up doing the wrong things that he didn’t want to do.

At the end of this he exclaims in Romans 7:24

Romans 7:24 KJV 1900

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Can you hear the frustration? This is the Apostle Paul who wrote this! We would think of him as a strong Christian, mature and wise, and he was, but he had come to the realization that he could do nothing on his own, not even the basic stuff. The next verse gives the realization that he has as he proclaims, “I thank God through Jesus Christ. My mind and my spirit serve the law of God, but my flesh is still chasing after sin.”

This is why Paul said that he was crucified with Christ. Galatians 2:20

Galatians 2:20 KJV 1900

20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

“I’m alive,” Paul said, “but it’s not me. I am dead to me, and Jesus now lives through me.” This was a daily thing that he did. We must crucify ourselves daily and ask Jesus to live through us.

“Well, how would I know what it would look like if Jesus lived through me?” That question is answered by asking yourself this:

If Jesus were to switch places with you, what would He do differently?

If you think of those things that He would do differently, and it seems overwhelming to think about all the change that needs to happen, or it seems so like it would be difficult or impossible to change those things, then you, my friend, are in a position where you must ask.

And then when you are done asking, you must seek. There is an effort that must be made on your part. You must seek how to do his will. You have to do more than just flip through the pages of your Bible, you need to search for the answers. You need to inquire of others. You need to be diligent in your seeking.

And you must be passionate. You need to knock. That is what this “ask, seek, knock” is dealing with. It is dealing with realization, persistence, and perseverance.

It is like the parable of the man that had guests arrive late at his house and had nothing to feed them. This would have been considered very rude at least, and at worst, insulting to the guest. So late at night, the man runs over to his neighbors house and starts knocking on the door. The neighbor, from his bed, answers and says, “What do you want?”

“I need bread for a guest that suddenly turned up in the night and I have nothing to give him.”

“Go away,” says the neighbor, “I am in bed and my kids are sleeping here with me to. I can’t get up.

But instead of leaving, the man continues to knock and ask his neighbor for bread. Finally, the neighbor acquiesces and gets up to give him bread. He does this, not so much for the love that he has for his neighbor, but because the neighbor just won’t stop.

Seeking is just asking a little more insistently. Knocking is an intensification of seeking. These three words emphasize the element of persistence. Persistence in seeking the Lord in these matters cannot be exaggerated. One of the saddest things to see is to see a Christian content with satisfying simple, passing desires.

If we really want to be disciples of Jesus and know Him and walk with Him, we must be persistent in our asking. We will not persist, however, if we do not Realize the great need we have of His presence in our daily lives. “Without me, you can do nothing,” Jesus told His disciples in John 14.

We Must Realize That God Is Our Father

The second principle for a victorious Christian life is realizing that God is our Father. This has been a common theme throughout the Sermon on the Mount, one that we have stated as the central principle of identity for each Christian.

This, of course, is only true of those that have turned to Jesus as their only savior, trusted Him, and accepted the gift of salvation that only He offers. Though God is the creator of everyone, we reject the false doctrine that He is the father of all people. The Bible expressly teaches that only those that believe in Jesus and accept Him as the savior and the payment for their sins are given the Spirit of adoption and can rightly call God “Father.”

We will not spend long here, as we have studied this concept in depth especially in the Model Prayer portion, but Jesus does mention this in Matthew 7:9-11

Matthew 7:9–11 KJV 1900

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Since God is our Father, He will never give us anything that is evil. He will only give that which is good and good for us. If sinful men know how to give their children good things, multiply that by infinity and you have God’s knowledge and ability to give His children that which is good.

We Must Realize That God Does Not Make Mistakes

This is the third principle to living a victorious and satisfied Christian life.

Earthly fathers sometimes make mistakes in giving things to their children that they think will be good. But then, it isn’t. However, God never makes this kind (or any kind) of mistake.

This is one of the most wonderful realizations that we can have as children of God - the realization that He never makes a mistake.

We Must Realize the Good Gifts God Gives Us

Lastly, we must realize the good gifts that God gives us. Matthew 7:11b

Matthew 7:11 KJV 1900

11 ...how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Jesus gives this teaching again in a different sermon recorded by Luke in Luke 11:13

Luke 11:13 KJV 1900

13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Notice that here Jesus says that the good gift that God gives is the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit the moment we get saved, and it is the best gift we have from God. It is through the Holy Spirit that we have the power to live the Christian life.

Look at what 2 Peter 1:3-4 says

2 Peter 1:3–4 KJV 1900

3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: We have been given everything pertaining to life and godliness through the Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, you have what it takes to live out the Sermon on the Mount daily. 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

We have super amazing promises through the Holy Spirit (one being the promise that He will guide us in all things), and we are now partakers of God’s divine nature. But not just that, we can live a sanctified life as it is the Holy Spirit within us that lets us escape the corruption that is in this world through lust. That word “lust” means unbridled desires. Those passing, unfulfilling cravings of the world.

We can let those go through the power of God in us, and we can escape the corruption that those bring, and we can live a fulfilled Christian life through Jesus.

But it is going to take us asking, seeking, and knocking.

Invitation

Christian, are you realizing, on a daily basis, your absolute need for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in your life? Are you asking for it? Are you being persistent?