Knock, Knock … Who’s There?

Introduction:

Connection:

Which situation would give you more confidence: (A) knocking on the door of a man who is loving, generous and compassionate? or (B) knocking on the door of a man who is bitter, selfish, and grumpy? Raise your hand for (A)….. now raise your hand for (B). The answer is obvious, isn’t it! One’s character gives us a deep assurance about how they will answer us.

Need:

We need to believe that someone is generous in order to ask them for things with confidence. Knowing who it is the stands behind the door that we are knocking on, will give us the faith and perseverance we need to knock loudly and expectantly.

Theme:

Knock, Knock … Who’s There?

Purpose:

To remind us of the blessings that God gives through prayer; to exhort us to ask, seek, and knock, that we might to receive, find, and open; to comfort us in the good and gracious heart character of our Father who is in heaven; and to cause us to examine whether or not we pray in faith, and with fervency.

Recap:

Last Lord’s Day we looked at the words of Jesus as he instructed us on how to judge rightly and humbly, and how to reject prideful and hypocritical judgment. Here Jesus continues with a practical exhortation on believing & fervent prayer and the bountiful & good heart of our Heavenly Father. So turn with me to our text for this morning:

Text: Read Matt. 7:7-11 ESV

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

(1) Ask, Seek and Knock in Order to Receive, Find, and Open - v. 7-8.

Matthew 7:7–8 ESV

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

(1) Ask, Seek and Knock in Order to Receive, Find, and Open - v. 7-8.

As we come to unpack these words and apply them to our minds, hearts and lives—we need to notice something crucial about the nature of our relationship with God.

We relate to God by sovereign grace. My Lord I did not choose thee for that could never be, my heart would still refuse you, had you not chosen me … Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling, naked come to the for dress, helpless look to thee for grace, foul I to the fountain fly, wash me saviour or I die! We receive God’s blessings by free mercy. But God works that mercy in us, and grants it to us, through appointed means.

You could liken God’s blessings in Christ to a treasure chest. How do you open the chest to receive such riches? Well, you need a key? What is that key? Faith! (which itself is a gift of the Spirit). But how do you turn the key? Prayer! (which itself is empowered by the Spirit). Therefore, to receive treasure from the chest of heaven—one needs saving faith, and one needs to exercise that faith through living prayer.

But what is faith? And what is prayer? The Catechism in the Eldership Standards so helpfully defines them in this way:

Q. 86. What is faith in Jesus Christ? A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.

Q. 98. What is prayer? A. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.

With this in mind, later in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus himself said to his disciples:

Matthew 21:22 ESV

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Faith is the key, and prayer turns the key! We receive God’s blessings by free grace, yet received through God’s appointed means. But why does God call us to pray for his blessings? Couldn’t he just lavish them all on us at once? Yes. But he hasn’t chosen to do so. He’s chosen to give us little by little, day by day, and he calls to pray to receive his blessings:

Calvin: Though [God] gives all things freely to us, yet, in order to exercise our faith, he commands us to pray, that he may grant to our requests those blessings which flow from his undeserved goodness.

By saving faith, and through the channel of prayer—we have access to the blessings of our Triune God; which He desires to so abundantly pour out upon us, his beloved children in Christ. And he calls us to pray in order to exercise and strengthen our faith, as we see God faithfully answer our living prayers.

And so, that brings us back to our text, where Jesus exhorts his disciples on the nature and importance of devout prayer:

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

This is a memorable saying, and it’s so practical … so powerful! But did you notice that with each of the three exhortations, they build on each-other and escalate in urgency and fervency?

Asking is quite passive, all you need to do is raise your voice and put forward a request.

Seeking is more active, you have to get up and search for that which you are looking for.

Knocking is the most engaging, for you had to ask for someone’s address, seek for it, and when you finally arrive, then you knock in anticipation of meeting someone.

And in the parallel text in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus also tells the story of a man who persistently knocks on his friend’s door at midnight (Lk. 11:5-13). He is determined. He is fervent. He is urgent. The knocking is the climax of the asking and seeking—it’s Christ’s way to impress upon us the importance of devout prayer!

Henry: “We must not only ask, but knock; we must come to God’s door, must ask [with urgency]; not only pray, but plead and wrestle with God; we must seek diligently; we must continue knocking; must persevere in prayer, and in the use of means; must endure to the end in the duty.”

In one sense, prayer is simple & easy—it’s a praising and petitioning of our God. It’s how God meets our daily, ordinary, and regular needs. And He is faithful to do that, through those faithful and short prayers of faith through the day. But, in another sense, prayer is complex & hard—it require consistent, faithful, fervent, and hearty devotion to God—it requires a wrestling with God, with sweat and tears.

The Puritans used to say: you need to pray until you pray. Do you understand what that means? When you first start praying your heart is still cold and a bit dull. You need to break the ice. You need to melt that coldness. You need to pray until the heat of the Spirit, the love of Christ, and the presence of God warms you. You need to be on your knees in your closet, in secret, to abide with your God—as you draw near to Him and He draws near to you. Luther said: prayer was the hardest work on this side of glory. True prayer, that is—the kind of prayer Jesus is describing: asking, seeking, and knocking … persevering in prayer.

On an average day, I’m asking, and praise God that I receive the strength that I pray for! On a good day, I’m seeking, and praise God when I find the sweetness of His face shining upon me———but rarely do I knock with that fervency that I both need to knock with and that I ought to knock with. And it’s no wonder that the door doesn’t open. Because it’s the persistent, fervent, and urgent knocking on the door of heaven, that leads to a special abiding in the presence of God. Hear how Scripture describes this blessing of fervent prayer and knocking:

Deuteronomy 4:29 ESV

But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Jeremiah 29:12–13 ESV

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Ephesians 3:14–19 ESV

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

This kind of prayer leads to us being filled with all the fullness of God! Unction. Power. Reverence. Awe. Weeping over sin. Delighting in the gospel. Hating our sinful flesh. Lying face-down before the King. Truly rejoicing in His Beloved Son. Being filled with His Holy Spirit. Pleading for God to be glorified in our lives, and for His Kingdom to fill the earth. Falling down before the throne with hearts that are duly affected with the glory of God and of the Lamb. He whose greatness is unsearchable, whose ways are beyond finding out—whose glory is above the heavens—and whose majesty is too wonderful for the angels. This kind of prayers leads us to communion with the LORD.

This, brothers and sisters, is a blessing that is only for those who knock—and who keep knocking—until God opens the door and gives you a taste of His heavenly glory and majesty. Oh that we might be men and women of prayer—that we might ask and receive, seek and find, knock and keep knocking and keep knocking, until God opens the door and shows us His glory!

It’s been said, that if you want to humble a Christian, then ask him or her about their prayer life? Dear Christian, how is your prayer life? Hear these searching thoughts from Dr. Joel Beeke:

Beeke: “Perhaps you once prayed in your prayers but your need for such prayer has grown dull. You used to look forward to times of prayer. You longed to be alone with the Lord, to pour out your heart to Him with needs, confessions, vows, thanksgivings, and praises. You spread those before the Lord with eagerness as if He knew nothing about you, and yet with the consciousness that He knew you better than you know yourself. But gradually your prayer life began to disintegrate. Even before you were aware of it, your prayers became more a matter of words than heart-communion with God. Form and coldness replaced holy necessity. Before long, you dropped your morning prayer. It no longer seemed critical to meet with God before you met with people. Then you shortened your prayer at bedtime. Other concerns broke in on your time with God. Throughout the day, prayer all but vanished. … [Oh] we must confront our prayer-less praying, confess it to God, and plead for the renewal of our souls in recognizing the value of prayer …Petitions are our sails, and the Spirit provides the wind. Without the Spirit, our prayers are prayer-less, and prayer-less praying results in lifeless living. Prayer is the thermometer of our spiritual condition.”

If you’re like me, and you’re feeling convicted about your prayerless praying—then don’t try to excuse yourself. Confess it before your Father. Cling to Jesus Christ! And let us together, repent of our lack of devout prayer, return to the Lord by the power of His Spirit—receive His mercy afresh—and wrestle with our God for His blessings anew!

Joel 2:12–14 ESV

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?

And oh, dear weary saint, let us return to God in prayer—not to earn his love—but to rest in it; not to earn his grace, but to rejoice in it; not to earn his mercy, but to delight in it—that we might abide with Christ, that we might taste the fruit of His presence, and lean upon his arms. Then, by true faith, and godly prayer, we shall know his blessing:

8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Do you want to receive God’s blessing? Do you want to find the altogether lovely one drawing near in holy embrace? Do you want the gate of heaven to be opened unto you? Together, let’s heed the words of Jesus. Let’s begin to ask God for His promised grace, that we might receive it. Let’s continue to seeking His face, that we might find his face shining upon us. And let’s persevere, yes even though the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak, let’s persevere in closet prayer, in family worship, at prayer meetings—and let’s wrestle with our gracious God who desires us to not let go until, like Jacob of old, we get the blessing. Then we shall knock, and knock, and knock, and keep knocking until the door shall be opened unto us.

(1) Ask, Seek and Knock in Order to Receive, Find, and Open - v. 7-8.

And incase we have doubts about whether or not God will answer our asking, seeking, and knocking—Jesus gives us a rhetorical illustration:

(2) No Good Father Mocks the Requests of His Needy Children - v. 9-10.

Matthew 7:9–10 ESV

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?

(2) No Good Father Mocks the Requests of His Needy Children - v. 9-10.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is using this analogy to rebuke our pitiful thoughts of God—our natural thoughts of God. You know, those thoughts that Satan suggests to us: that God really isn’t that good or gracious as He said He was, that He really doesn’t love us as much as He said He does, that He really isn’t going to care for us with the tenderness that He promised… it’s those thoughts that we must put to death.

Jesus is teaching us to reject Satan’s suggestions—and to know what God’s really like, who He really is, that we might pray to Him without fear, but in faith and assurance. And where do we see God most clearly? Jesus said: If you have seen me, you have seen the Father (Jn. 14:9). And what is Jesus like? He is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for His sheep (Jn. 10:11).

Carson: What is fundamentally at stake is man’s picture of God. God must not be thought of as a malicious tyrant who takes vicious glee in the tricks he plays (7:9–10), or even as an indulgent grandfather who provides everything requested of him. He is the heavenly Father, the God of the kingdom, who graciously and willingly bestows the good gifts of the kingdom in answer to prayer.

Luke 12:32 ESV

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Brothers and sisters, we need to know God, to know our God in Christ—the One who is full of Grace upon Grace, the One who waits to show us Mercy and Compassion and Favor, the One who delights to give us fresh experiences of His Love and Nearness. Our God is not like an evil father who would mock the requests of his children, giving them stones and serpents instead of bread and fish—no—our God is our Good Father who gives us exactly what we need, in His love, wisdom, grace, and provision. And the illustration of verses 9-10, Jesus teaches us to reject those stingy thoughts of God—and to delight in those glorious thoughts of God’s bounty and blessing for His children.

Martin Luther explains that God “knows we are timid and shy, that we feel unworthy … to present our needs to God.… We think that God is so great and we are so tiny that we dare [not] to pray.… That is why Christ wants to … remove our doubts, and to have us go ahead confidently and boldly.”

Whatever experience you have had with sinful and wicked men and fathers, God is not like this. God is the fountain of life and goodness and mercy. He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. So children of God, don’t project earthly fathers upon the heavenly Father. Just look upon our Heavenly Father, in all of His attributes, and find the confidence you need to come boldly to the throne of grace and to cry out with divine assurance: Abba, Father! And to know that in Christ, God is our God—and He has bound Himself to us in His covenant of grace, sealed by the blood of His only-begotten Son, washing us white as snow and giving us all the rights of belonging to God’s family and household. So come to him, as a little child—as his very own child, who is poor and needy, and who knows that his Father is mighty and able to meet all of our needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus our LORD!

And remember, we don’t come to God in prayer as the ones making the first move! God has condescended to us, and bid us come! We don’t have to convince our Father to give us good things, as though we had to turn an evil heart into one of compassion—no—God’s heart is full of goodness and compassion, and therefore, he says: call upon me!

Psalm 84:11 ESV

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

(2) No Good Father Mocks the Requests of His Needy Children - v. 9-10.

But our Good Father delights to meet the requests of His needy children. And this leads us to our last main point:

(3) Our Heavenly Father Gives Good Gifts to His Prayerful Sons - v. 11.

Matthew 7:11 ESV

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!

(3) Our Heavenly Father Gives Good Gifts to His Prayerful Sons - v. 11.

Not too long ago, Asher fell in love. And no I’m not talking about Phoebe! :) I’m talking about hockey! :)

At any point of the day, if you walk into our home, you will probably hear Asher cry out: hockey, hockey, hockey, dadda, hockey, downstairs, hockey puck, ball, hockey, net, dadda, pls! So, due to Asher’s fervent knocking on the door of my heart, Becca and I decided to get him an early Christmas present: thrifted hockey skates and a new hockey helmet & stick. And we took him to the Invista Center for his first public skate. And he just lit up. The joy and laughter and gladness of his heart, taking delight in God’s good gifts, was just amazing to see! And it’s in light of the context of something like this, that Jesus says:

11 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!

I’m an evil man. Yes I’m a redeemed man. Yes I’m a regenerated man. Yes I’m a justified man. Yes I’m an adopted man. Yes I’m a sanctified man. But I’m still an evil man. I’m still a sinner. That body of sin and the flesh hasn’t been fully severed off yet, and it won’t until I die or Jesus returns. And Jesus is saying, if someone like me, an evil man, knows how to lavish his son with good gifts, as Asher fervently petitions me by faith, then….

how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

If Pastor Evan has a bountiful heart to his children—how much more does God our Father feel toward his children? I wouldn’t give Asher a stone for dinner. God won’t give us a stone for dinner. God will give us good things, according to his perfect and pleasing will, in his perfect and wise timing. God our Father lavishes his prayerful sons with good gifts when they ask him in faith and prayer.

Ryle: “Evil” and selfish [fathers] do not neglect the bodily needs of their children. So how much more will a God of love and mercy attend to the cries of those who are his children by grace!

But notice, brothers and sisters, that it doesn’t say that a good father, our our Heavenly Father, will give his children everything that they ask for. No. That would be bad parenting. That would be enabling of covetousness. That would be to take part in their sin!

Henry: If the child should foolishly ask for a stone, or a serpent, for unripe fruit to eat, or a sharp knife to play with, the father, though kind, is so wise as to deny him. We often ask that of God which would do us harm if we had it; he knows this, and therefore does not give it to us. Denials in love are better than grants in anger; we should have been undone ere this if we had had all we desired.

A good parent knows when to say yes and when to say no, and when to say later. And God our Father who is in heaven, knows when to say yes and when to so no, when to say later—but also—when to say, you you can have this, if you keep asking, seeking, and knocking! But that which He gives are good things—and not everything we ask for is a good thing. Thus, all prayer, even exemplified by Jesus the incarnate Son of God, must be concluded with: not my will, but thy will be done!

1 John 5:14–15 ESV

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

What an awesome God and Father we have, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, and now tells us: do you want to experience such blessing? Then trust my heart and seek my face:

Psalm 37:4 ESV

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

(3) Our Heavenly Father Gives Good Gifts to His Prayerful Sons - v. 11.

And yes, even you ladies are counted among the sons of God—because in the ancient world only the sons got the inheritance and the promised blessing! So take heart, in Christ, we are all sons of God through faith!

(C & A) Our Father’s Heart Overflows with Goodness to His Children—so Ask, Seek, Knock and Believe in order to Receive God’s Blessings.

Now let me give us some concluding applications from our text:

Church vs World: The Church is marked by the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication—the World is marked by a spirit of self-reliance and self-help. There is a deep antithesis between God’s people and those who belong to the domain of darkness.

Ignorant vs Studied: Prayer doesn’t need to be theologically profound, but it does need to be sincerely warm and fervent, with asking, seeking, and knocking—whereas intellectual prayers can be deep, but heartless and despicable in God’s eyes.

Proud vs Humbled: The proud do not ask, seek, or knock, because they don’t want to admit their need of divine grace and mercy—the humbled realize that God is their only helper and thus they need to seek Him earnestly for His strength and mercies!

True vs False Christians: The true Christian breathes prayer and trusts in the heart of their Father who is in heaven, and prays chiefly to fellowship with God and to delight in His beauty and glory—the false Christians treats God like a genie, just trying to get things from God, without actually seeking the LORD himself.

Young vs Old Christians: Young Christians must get the habit of prayer into their lives early, or it will be hard to do so later on—and older Christians need to work hard on maintaining it, as they are given more time to exercise the power of prayer in the Spirit.

Backsliding Christians: Those who are backsliding can only do so while neglecting true prayer, because prayer brings one into the presence and holiness of our saving God, who sanctifies us and draws us into the life of faith; you cannot be prayerful and backsliding—and you cannot backslide if you are prayerful!

Strong vs Weak Christians: The strong in the faith are strong in prayer and need to help encourage the weak in the faith to seek God’s face, encouraging them that the light of God’s face shining upon us through prayer is worth it, and that communion with God is heaven on earth.

Hot vs Lukewarm Christians: Hot Christians are dwelling in the sauna of fervent prayer, which maintains our spiritual health and conduct and allows us to be fit for service in God’s kingdom—but lukewarm Christians are prayer-less, and thus powerless, and unable to be effective tools in God’s hand. The mature need to bind up the weak, and help them arm up by the fire of prayer.

Beeke: “Consider the following seven principles of how to take hold of yourself for prayer: (1) Remember the value of prayer, (2) maintain the priority of prayer, (3) speak with sincerity in prayer, (4) cultivate a continual spirit of prayer, (5) work towards organization in prayer, (6) read the Bible for prayer, and (7) keep biblical balance in prayer. And consider these three principles for taking hold of God in prayer: (1) Plead God’s promises in prayer, (2) Look to the glorious Trinity in prayer, (3) Believe that God answers prayer.

Let it not be said of us, as it was said of old through Isaiah:

Isaiah 64:7 ESV

There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you;

But let us rise up to call upon God’s name, and rise up to take hold of God himself and His fatherly hand of blessing in Christ:

James 1:5 ESV

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Hebrews 4:16 ESV

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

(C & A) Our Father’s Heart Overflows with Goodness to His Children—so Ask, Seek, Knock and Believe in order to Receive God’s Blessings.

Amen? Let’s pray.

Discussion Questions:

(1) How do the three commands relate to each other: Ask, Seek, and Knock. Are there differences between them? What do you think?

(2) What most comforts you in verses 7-8, and what most convicts you in verses 7-8? Feel free to share.

(3) What is the point that Jesus makes in verses 9-10 about an evil and father? Is this a rhetorical question?

(4) What was a good gift that your earthly father (or mother) gave to you that you asked for? And how does Jesus use this as a glimpse of our Heavenly Father’s Goodness?

(5) Jesus says that our Father gives good gifts to those who ask him! Why does God condition the enjoyment of blessing through the avenue of believing prayer?